Big Ten Week 7 Preview and BSD Challenge

Once again, the Big Ten has shown you that anything can happen on any given Saturday. It looked like Michigan was set to roll all the way to next week’s showdown with Penn State, only to have a resurgent Michigan State squad knock them off. Meanwhile, Purdue made an embarrassment out of Minnesota. How will this week’s B1G games go down? Let’s find out!

Big Ten Week 7 Preview

#17 Michigan (4-1, 1-1 Big Ten) at Indiana (3-2, 0-2)

Saturday, 12:00 PM at Bloomington, IN

Line: Michigan -7

Michigan’s lack of offensive prowess finally caught up to them, as they got taken down by the Spartans. Indiana, meanwhile, made up its canceled Week 3 game by playing FCS Charleston Southern, filling out their non-conference schedule. I’ll take the Wolverines, but would not be surprised if the Hoosiers pulled off the upset.

Prediction: Michigan 21, Indiana 20

Rutgers (1-4, 0-2) at Illinois (2-3, 0-2)

Saturday, 12:00 PM at Champaign, IL

Line: Illinois -2.5

Avert your eyes! If you value your sanity, you will not tune in to watch this pillow fight. This is a game between two bad teams, both of which may not have another winnable game on the schedule. I expect an ugly game, and flipping a coin gave me the Illini winning.

Prediction: Illinois 27, Rutgers 17

Purdue (3-2, 1-1) at #7 Wisconsin (5-0, 2-0)

Saturday, 3:30 PM at Madison, WI

Line: Wisconsin -16.5

All of a sudden this is a fun game. Purdue has shown a resilience not seen under prior regimes, and may just be the second best team in the West. I still expect Wisconsin to win here, but the Boilermakers could make this a fun one.

Prediction: Wisconsin 27, Purdue 24

Northwestern (2-3, 0-2) at Maryland (3-2, 1-1)

Saturday, 3:30 PM at College Park, MD

Line: Northwestern -3

This is another fun game, though it’s more from sheer unpredictability than anything else. Northwestern has oscillated between dominating wins [ed. note: There’s nothing dominating about barely surviving against Nevada] and underwhelming losses, while Maryland has provided early season fireworks followed by injury-bug-laden defeats. I’m going with the Terrapins, but an entertaining game should ensue regardless of who wins.

Prediction: Maryland 31, Northwestern 27

#9 Ohio State (5-1, 3-0) at Nebraska (3-3, 2-1)

Saturday, 7:30 PM at Lincoln, NE

Line: Ohio State -24

Ohio State did to Maryland what great teams do to middling teams. Nebraska, meanwhile, doesn’t have any more wins chalked up on the schedule. I don’t see the Cornhuskers hanging with the Buckeyes for this one.

Prediction: Ohio State 38, Nebraska 17

#21 Michigan State (4-1, 2-0) at Minnesota (3-2, 0-2)

Saturday, 8:00 PM at Minneapolis, MN

Line: Michigan State -4

Well, well, well, what do we have here? Sparty is alive and kicking, having defeated big brother this past weekend. I’m still not convinced that Michigan State is “back,” but Minnesota seems to be in a flat spin, heading out to sea. Give me the Spartans in another convincing win.

Prediction: Michigan State 35, Minnesota 21

Bye Week:

#3 Penn State (6-0, 2-0), Iowa (4-2, 1-2)

BSD Staff Picks

At the midway point of the season, we have a tie for first place among the bloggers, as Clay and I are leading with a respectable 48-10 mark. Jared and Dlando are right behind us at 47-11, followed by Eli and Patrick at 46-12. The second half of the season is where all of these pretenders drop off, leaving only one true champion.

For this week, half of the games were decided unanimously:

• #7 Wisconsin over Purdue
• #9 Ohio State over Nebraska
• #21 Michigan State over Minnesota

After the Wolverines (finally) stumbled against Michigan State, both Eli and Rowen think that the Hoosiers have a chance to win. Eli also believes that Rutgers has a chance against the Illini, and I can’t say that I disagree with him - I actually thought there would be more parity for that game. And we have an even 50/50 split among the staff for the Northwestern at Maryland game, another one that should be pretty entertaining. What say you, dear reader? Did the masthead get it right?