I am serious, and don’t call me Shirley.
The majority of the league is playing this week, including Northwestern, who takes on undefeated Notre Dame. Read on, make your own picks, and see if you know better than the masthead!
Nebraska (2-6, 1-4) at #10 Ohio State (7-1, 4-1)
Columbus, OH
Saturday, November 3rd, 12:00 PM
Line: OSU -20.5
Nebraska, fresh off a two-week win streak, gets to go visit Ohio State. Look, I’m not saying this is going to be a particularly pretty game, and it’s certainly possible that OSU plays angry the rest of the season. But the Cornhuskers haven’t looked terrible the last few weeks. Give me the Buckeyes to win, but not to cover.
Ohio State 42, Nebraska 24
Rutgers (1-7, 0-5) at Wisconsin (5-3, 3-2)
Madison, WI
Saturday, November 3rd, 12:00 PM
Line: WIS -28
I’ll be honest with you. I picked Wisconsin to cover long before actually finding out what the spread is. Is 28 points too much? Maybe. But for the first time all season, the Badgers are unranked, and I think they want to take it out on the Scarlet Knights.
Wisconsin 49, Rutgers 14
Michigan State (5-3, 3-2) at Maryland (5-3, 3-2)
College Park, MD
Saturday, November 3rd, 12:00 PM
Line: MSU -3
This has the makings of an ugly game. Pretty much all of Michigan State is injured right now, so I don’t expect the Spartans to put up a ton of points. Maryland’s offense is pretty good, but so is the MSU defense. Give me the Spartans in a low-scoring affair.
Michigan State 17, Maryland 13
#16 Iowa (6-2, 3-2) at Purdue (4-4, 3-2)
West Lafayette, IN
Saturday, November 3rd, 3:30 PM
Line: PUR -2.5
You ever see a point spread and just scratch your head? This is one of those games for me. Maybe Purdue is still riding on its blowout victory over the Buckeyes - by the way, did you hear that the Boilermakers beat Ohio State 49-20? In any case, Iowa looked good last week, and probably should have won if they hadn’t played so sloppily. I think the Hawkeyes get back in the win column.
Iowa 35, Purdue 24
Minnesota (4-4, 1-4) at Illinois (3-5, 1-4)
Champaign, IL
Saturday, November 3rd, 3:30 PM
Line: MIN -9.5
Don’t you just love pillow fights? I know I do. Not much to say here, other than both of these teams are fighting to get to bowl eligibility, which may make this a make-or-break kind of situation for both. I like Minnesota much more than I do Illinois.
Minnesota 35, Illinois 24
#4 Notre Dame(8-0) at Northwestern (5-3)
Evanston, IL
Saturday, November 3rd, 7:15 PM
Line: ND -8
Oh man I would love nothing more than to see Notre Dame lose this game. Unlike members of Power 5 conferences, I’m of the mindset that independents cannot afford even a single loss if they want to make the playoffs. Northwestern has been extremely up and down this year, struggling with Rutgers 2 weeks ago, and then defeating Wisconsin last week. Can they pull it off against Notre Dame? Maybe. I certainly think they’ll keep it close.
Notre Dame 28, Northwestern 24
BSD Challenge
Check out the staff’s picks below. For the record, the line used for the Penn State-Indiana game was MICH -11.5. The masthead was unanimous for two games:
- Wisconsin -28 over Rutgers
- Minnesota -9.5 over Illinois
That leaves five games up for grabs:
Most of the writers like Ohio State to go scorched earth on Nebraska, while few see Maryland staying within a field goal of the Spartans. Tim and Aaron like the Boilermakers over the Hawkeyes.
Surprisingly, most of the writers think the Nittany Lions can keep it close against the Wolverines - only Clay thinks Michigan covers. Lastly, just two writers think Notre Dame will cover against Northwestern.
What do you think, dear reader? Who ya got in week ten?