Big Ten Week Six Lines

I've got Nebraska +5.  Easiest money of the week.

I have to think the Wiscy +14 bet would be hard to pass on. IL is just a tire fire right now. The NW/PSU game should be fun to watch. I'll be hard pressed to get the UM/PU game in as I have to work a wedding (with my wife, who is the planner) @ 3 PM CDT.

EDIT: I see I'm screwed with a 3 PM CDT start. Damn it.

What's the O/U for the Ohio/Neb game?  I'm pretty sure the over is a good bet no matter what it is.  Neither defense has shown an ability to stop an offense with even the slighest pulse.

might find running the football against the hoosiers to be easier than running against the buckeyes.

Michigan State v. Indiana (+16) - Take Indiana.  I'm not convinced MSU should be +16 on anyone right now

Illinois v. Wisconsin (-14) - Wisky should roll them

Nebraska v. Ohio (-4) - Take Ohio.  Nebraska can't perform up to par away from Lincoln, and will probably get steam-rolled

Northwestern v. Penn State (-3.5) - I'd take Penn State.  Northwestern's opponents are something like 1-14, collectively.  Their success is deceiving.

Michigan v. Purdue (+3) - I gotta go with the homer pick and take Michigan.  We win by 14.

This Purdue matchup really has me uneasy. Its got trap game written all over it.  

I typically don't bet on Michigan, but that -3 does look pretty good.

I'm not sold on Purdue's defense.

Eastern Michigan did this rushing the ball against Purdue -

38 Carries, 169 Yards, 4.4 AVG

By comparison, here's the team rushing line from EMU's game versus Michigan State -

29 Carries, 46 Yards, 1.6 AVG

I think the Purdue defensive hype came from the Notre Dame game when everyone was looking.  I still think Notre Dame's offense is that bad
.

MSU over Indy but I think Indy makes it close in the 1st half but State pulls away.

Illinois gets killed by Wisconsin.

I actually have Penn State beating NW. After Indiana's display offensively against NW this past weekend especially almost coming back and beating them I say McGloin and PSU pull the upset and win by two TDs.

Nebraska beats OSU in a close one in Cbus but I see Martinez lighting up OSU's secondary in the 2nd half.

Michigan gets its first conference road win on the road vs Purdue. Purdue except for ND has played nobody strong and our defense will pressure TerBush all game long. Purdue will prove their worth in Leaders this Saturday. And they will fail.

I'm really curious about this Purdue defense.  On the one hand, they shut down Notre Dame's offense.  On the other hand, so has everyone else but Navy.

MSU vs. Indiana - I look at Indiana's 510 yards of total offense per game compared to who they have played to date and think that State's defense, running on all cyclinders, could make a considerable dent in this average. The problem is that MSU's defense hasn't done this, and their offense gets bogged down if you can stop Bell. I would take Indiana here. 

Illinois vs. Wisconsin - that HB pass was just about the only thing that worked for Illinois on Saturday. It certainly wasn't Scheelhaase. Wisconsin, and by a comfortable margin. 

Nebraska vs. Ohio - I would take Ohio here, but by not much over this margina, and primarily because I think Braxton  Miller can carry them enough to cover because the Nebraska defense seems to give up yardage in chunks, but then so do the Buckeyes and that awful run defense. The Buckeyes may not have Jordan Hall though, which probably would make me more comfortable picking them. 

Northwestern vs. Penn State - I must say that I was pleasantly surprised by how things seem to be coming together this year with talent that stayed at  Penn State, at least inasmuch as possible considering the situation. The defense looks good, and it seems like O'Brien has installed a reasonably effective budget version of the New England offense. I would take Penn State.

Michigan vs. Purdue - Michigan, of course, and I am not sold on Purdue as a complete team, although they seem better than most years recently. We win by a couple scores, I think. 

I just hope OSU wins again, we need them to take out our opponents in our division.  WIsconsin beating Nebraska would have been nice but, alas, it wasn't so.  OSU can make up for that. 

And Goddammit I hope we beat Purdue by more than 3 points.

As long as Borges isn't too predictable and doesn't insist we run right at Kewann Short the entire game we should be able to beat a 3 point spread. Like last week against ND beating them through the air is the key. Unlike last week I hope we actually try and test their DBs this time. Our defense alone should be enough to beat the spread as it's one of the best Purdue faces this year.

Wisconsin should roll over Illinois and easily beat the spread. Maybe even double it. They just lost a heartbreaker.

Nebraska I think might be able to upset Ohio. Not sure how I feel about this. Ohio hasn't shown itself to be any kind of offensive threat this year, and they're missing a couple RBs now, and has been extremely one dimensional. They're also used to facing an offense like Ohios, even though their defense has been suspect. I like Nebraskas offense as the difference maker in that game. Too many good running backs, plus Martinez.

I'm hoping Northwestern can upset Penn State on the road. PSU stomped Illinois on the road, but everybody else is doing that lately. Northwesterns versatile offense that just set a school record against Indiana (I know) might be the difference. Like most of the Wildcats games, I expect them to go up in the first half, squander a big lead, then Penn States kicker comes out and misses a game winner or 2, or 5.

Don't know why Sparty has such a big spread against Indiana. Both teams are bad. Sparty has a semblence of decent defense, and Indiana has a semblence of decent offense. They tagged Northwestern for more than Vandy and BC combined. On the road I'd expect Staee to continue to struggle, and the game to be closer than 16.

I dislike Sparty as much as the next guy, but is it really the consensus view that INDIANA of all teams is going to give State a game?

but Sparty losing to IU would be soooooo FUNNY!

Hope to see a bunch of Maize and Blue in West Lafayette this Saturday!

Go Blue!

all on just one thread.

I think most Nebraska fans are figuring on a loss. Even Pelini's best D's have had trouble with dual threat qb's.

Agree that if Nebraska's offense plays up to their potential all 4 quarters, they can win. A high scoring game seems more likely than a defensive battle.

we can and will scheme around their DL

if we do what we do best, run Denard and Fitz, and we should cover that spread easily.   

Over/Unders for said games and my predictions:

MSU/IU 47.5 (under)

Ill/UW 47.0 (over)

Neb/OSU 58.0 (over)

NW/PSU 49.0 (under)

UM/Pur 57.5 (under)