The more things change the more the stay the same in the Big Ten. This year Penn State is playing the role of Ohio State as the Big Ten's non deserving representative in the National Championship hunt. Everyone is talking about just about every other team in the Top 5 BCS rankings, whether it's Florida, USC, or Oklahoma every team with one less is saying they deserve a shot over the Big Ten's Penn State. Even JoPa is playing the role of the "absent minded professor" by calling the BCS the BSC during his weekly press conference. I guess we will have to wait about another month before everything is said and done, but I expect Penn State to play in the National Championship Game and JoPa announcing his retirement right before kickoff.
Now on to this weeks match ups in The Big Ten:
Purdue at #18 Michigan State: Both teams are coming off last minute wins against teams where they were down by double digits sometime in the game. MSU some how shook off the "let down" bug after the Michigan game by beating Wisconsin and Purdue used "a bag of tricks" to continue the Wolverines losing streak. MSU is way over rated at #18 as they showed last week against a beat up Wisconsin team. Purdue has 3 wins and has former running back playing QB. MSU is all around the better team but not by much, Vegas has them as a 9.5 favorite. MSU 21 Purdue 14
Wisconsin at Indiana: Both teams had hoped for a good year but Wisconsin is the only one looking at a potential trip to The Motor City Bowl. Wisconsin is also playing better football with their recent games against Illinois and MSU. Wisconsin is favored by 9.5 as well and will win easily. Wisconsin 31 IU 10
Illinois vs Western Michigan at Ford Field in Detroit: When they scheduled this game, I bet only one team was hoping for a return visit back to Detroit for the Motor City Bowl where Western Michigan would play if they were the MAC Champions. Well, Western is a respectable 7-2 this year and Illinois is a disappointing 5-4 and one win away from a bowl game. At this point in the season, both teams would welcome a return trip to Detroit for the holiday season. Illinois trend this year is to win one lose one, but is clearly the better team after beating Iowa last week. Vegas has them favored by a touchdown. Zook and Juice 28 Western Michigan 14
#3 Penn State at Iowa: Should Penn State be on upset alert after Texas Tech went from #7 in the BCS to #2 when Penn State didn't even play? Maybe, Iowa is an improved team and could make their season by beating the #3 ranked team in the nation. The Iowa program has been struggling the last few years but is playing better football of late and will keep this one close for about 2 1/2 quarters until the Spread HD finds it's footing. PSU is favored by 7.5. JoPa 24 Iowa 10
Big Ten Game of the Week:
#11 Ohio State at #24 Northwestern: In my pre-season preview of the Big Ten I predicted that Northwestern would be much improved and they are at 7-2 with some nice wins (at Minn, at Duke, at Iowa) and one head scratcher with a loss at Indiana. Northwestern is heading to a Bowl Game and Ohio State is not heading to a BCS game. Northwestern is playing confident football and Ohio State isn't, but at the end of the day OSU's second team could start for the Wildcats. Ohio State's kick returner and WR Ray Small has been suspended for this game for missing a class. I have a feeling that Northwestern is going to play hard and keep this game closer then many believe and even have a shot at upsetting the favored Buckeyes (10.5) who have been known to sleep on the Wildcats in Chicago. Ohio State 20 Northwestern 17
The battle for the Little Brown Jug will be previewed on Friday.
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