Big Ten Preview Week 12

The Big Ten shook off the "can't play on the road" tag with good road wins by Michigan, Nebraska and Michigan State.  The road to Indy is now much clearer with Michigan State just having to play a bad IU team and Northwestern on the road.   Penn State has to travel to OSU and Wisconsin to cement it's spot.  Since that program has been turned upside down the last two weeks, Wisconsin is the odds on favorite to have a "Hail Mary" re-match with MSU in the Championship game.

This week has a couple good games:

Big 10 Game of the Week:

Nebraska at Michigan:  Will be previewed on Friday morning.

The rest of the games:

Penn State at Ohio State:  Both teams have suffered a ton of losses off the field which includes both of their famous coaches being fired.   OSU lost to Purdue and Penn State played tough but lost a close game to Nebraska last weekend.  A win puts Penn State one step closer to Championship game but it's trip next week to Wisconsin will be the Championship play in game.   OSU wants some momentum before they head north to play the Wolverines.   Ohio State is a surprisingly -7 favorite in this game.  Which must mean they play well at home.  Both teams play defense but not much offense and will compare legal bills at halftime for a tie breaker for overtime.   OSU 10 Penn State 7

Minnesota at Northwestern:  The Golden Gophers are playing better but I think Northwestern is a decent team when they play defense.  Persa will be too much for the Minnesota defense.   NW -15.5  Northwestern 38 Minnesota 21

Wisconsin at Illinois:  "You just couldn't let it go, could you Shannon?"  see the video here.   Love Ron Zook and hope he never gets fired.   Wisconsin is favored by 14.5 points.   Zook will need to pull out a few magic tricks to win this game.  Wisconsin 28 Illinois 7

Indiana at Michigan State:  MSU -28 enough said.   MSU 42 IU 14

Iowa at Purdue:  These are two strange teams.  Purdue plays poorly on the road but beat OSU at home last week.  Iowa beat Michigan two weeks ago and then lays an egg against MSU last week.  Purdue is one win away from the Little Caesars Pizza Bowl in Detroit (I am sure Danny Hope would love that).  Iowa is the better team and Vegas has them at -3.5.   I think Iowa sneaks this one out.  Iowa 24 Purdue 17

 Like mentioned above, Michigan and Nebraska will be previewed here tomorrow.