Big Ten Week 4 Preview and BSD Challenge

Another week of college football is in the books, and the Big Ten is still in flux. The top looks pretty good still, and the bottom is, well, the bottom. The middle teams like Purdue, Minnesota, and Nebraska continue to perplex, however. The good news is that Big Ten play is here! A few teams still have some out of conference showdowns to take care of, but it’s time for the real deal! How will this week’s B1G games go down? Let’s find out!

Big Ten Week 4 Preview

UNLV (1-1) at #10 Ohio State (2-1, 1-0 Big Ten)

Saturday, 12:00 PM at Columbus, OH

Line: Ohio State -40.5

Due to the fact that Ohio State started the season against Indiana, they’re one of the teams still working through their non-con schedule. After losing to Oklahoma in week 2, OSU laid the lumber to Army last week. I can’t see UNLV being competitive in this one, and the Buckeyes win big.

Prediction: Ohio State 49, UNLV 10

Central Florida (1-0) at Maryland (2-0, 0-0)

Saturday, 3:00 PM at College Park, MD

Line: Maryland -3.5

Maryland had an early-season bye last week, and will take on a resurgent UCF this week. Through their first two games, the Terrapins are actually averaging more points per game than Penn State, which is why the spread has me confused. Maryland has some kinks to work out, but I can’t see the Knights putting up that much of a fight.

Prediction: Maryland 45,Central Florida 31

Rutgers (1-2, 0-0) at Nebraska (1-2, 0-0)

Saturday, 3:30 PM at Lincoln, NE

Line: Nebraska -12

How ‘bout them Huskers? Apparently it’s a Big Ten tradition for some team to make Northern Illinois look good, and this year it was Nebraska. Meanwhile, Rutgers pummeled Morgan State last week, in a game that doesn’t really tell me a lot about the Scarlet Knights. Both of these teams are bad, but I’ll say that Nebraska is marginally less bad. Big Red wins an ugly game.

Prediction: Nebraska 35, Rutgers 27

Georgia Southern (0-2) at Indiana (1-1, 0-1)

Saturday, 3:30 PM at Bloomington, IN

Line: Indiana -24

Indiana’s game last week against FIU was canceled, and it does not appear that it will be made up. Alas. Georgia Southern is not good at American football, and the Hoosiers roll before PUNT WEEK arrives.

Prediction: Indiana 42, Georgia Southern 10

#8 Michigan (3-0, 0-0) at Purdue (2-1, 0-0)

Saturday, 4:00 PM at West Lafayette, IN

Line: Michigan -10

CHOO CHOO! Purdue is not just a one trick pony, having completely shut down the Missouri offense last week, en route to one of the bigger upsets of the week. Michigan, meanwhile, still doesn’t look great on offense – and just lost their best receiver. I’d love it for Michigan to be undefeated when they come to Beaver Stadium, but I’m taking the Boilermakers for the win! BOILER UP!

Prediction: Purdue 24, Michigan 21

Notre Dame (2-1) at Michigan State (2-0, 0-0)

Saturday, 8:00 PM at East Lansing, MI

Line: Notre Dame -4

Like Maryland, Michigan State also had a bye last week. To date, I don’t really know what to expect from either MSU or Notre Dame, so after flipping a coin, I’ll take the Fighting Irish. This game really could go either way, though, and I would not be shocked by it.

Prediction: Notre Dame 31, Michigan State 24

BSD Staff Picks

After 3 weeks, it’s time to give everyone an update on the standings among the staff. This very author currently sits tied atop the leaderboard with Clay, hauling in a respectable 33-5 record through 3 weeks. Aaron and Dlando sit just one game back, however, and then there’s a giant pileup. As the weeks go on, the strong will start to separate themselves from the weak.

For this week, the staff had several unanimous selections, as everyone picked the following games identically:

• #8 Ohio State over UNLV
• Maryland over Central Florida
• Nebraska over Rutgers
• Indiana over Georgia Southern
• #4 Penn State over Iowa (obvi)

That means that just two games on the docket had any real contentiousness:

The majority of the writers foresee Michigan taking down Purdue, but I’m here to tell you that Tim, Aaron, and me have got it right. BOILER UP! Also, most people are on the Sparty YES wagon, but Dlando, Clay, and me all think that the Fighting Irish get the win. What say you, dear reader? Did the masthead get it right?