Black Shoe Degenerates: Overreactions Week

Week two is notorious for having a lot of skewed lines based on week 1 results. As such, it’s a week where lots of people end up losing their hard earned cash because they pick based on what they saw the previous week more so than what’s in front of them. So what better way to honor that tradition than to make our own picks based on overreactions?

This week we have full Big Ten slate, so 14 games to pick. Given that a lot of them are against FCS squads, those lines are not yet available. But the beauty of our new Black Shoe Degenerates format is that all you have to do is pick the score. I take care of the rest!

And with that, let’s get started

Illinois at Virginia (-10)

Overreaction: Illinois is back to being bad! I will readily admit to not being the most well versed person on Virginia football, but I still think Illinois is better than last Saturday, and that UTSA is in fact better than I gave them credit for. That said, they’re still not winning this game.

Lando: Virginia 28, Illinois 24
Jared: Illinois 27, Virginia 23
Dylan: Virginia 34, Illinois 21
Clay: Virginia 30, Illinois 17
Tim: Virginia 31, Illinois 14
Eli: Virginia 31, Illinois 27

Youngstown State at Michigan State (TBD)

Overreaction: Michigan State is back baby! Who knows if last week was an example of Northwestern in September™ or the Spartans truly turning a corner, but the reality is that this week isn’t going to do much in showing us what’s what.

Lando: Michigan State 24, Youngstown State 17
Jared: Michigan State 31, Youngstown State 14
Dylan: Michigan State 38, Youngstown State 13
Clay: Michigan State 34, Youngstown State 14
Tim: Michigan State 38, Youngstown State 14
Eli: Michigan State 44, Youngstown State 10

Miami (OH) at Minnesota (-20)

Overreaction: Wow Minnesota is back to 2019 form! It’s likely that Minnesota is in fact much better than last season indicated. They did take a big hit in Mohamed Ibrahim being out for the season, but that shouldn’t be enough for them to sweat this game.

Lando: Minnesota 35, Miami (OH) 14
Jared: Minnesota 45, Miami (OH) 10
Dylan: Minnesota 41, Miami (OH) 10
Clay: Minnesota 31, Miami (OH) 13
Tim: Minnesota 35, Miami (OH) 14
Eli: Minnesota 42, Miami (OH) 17

Indiana State at Northwestern (TBD)

Overreaction: Northwestern is back (to being bad) baby! Everything I said about Michigan State a few paragraphs ago, place here but in reverse.

Lando: Northwestern 27, Indiana State 14
Jared: Northwestern 30, Indiana State 10
Dylan: Northwestern 34, Indiana State 13
Clay: Northwestern 34, Indiana State 10
Tim: Northwestern 35, Indiana State 10
Eli: Northwestern 44, Indiana State 10

No. 12 Oregon at No. 3 Ohio State (-14.5)

Overreaction: The death machine keeps on rolling! This might not be much of an overreaction given that the Buckeyes are the most talented team in the Big Ten, but, if anything, Minnesota proved that Ohio State still has weaknesses. The question is, can anyone on their schedule, including Oregon on Saturday, exploit them?

Lando: Ohio State 38, Oregon 21
Jared: Ohio State 40, Oregon 28
Dylan: Ohio State 42, Oregon 24
Clay: Ohio State 41, Oregon 24
Tim: Ohio State 41, Oregon 27
Eli: Ohio State 31, Oregon 24

Rutgers (-2.5) at Syracuse

Overreaction: Greg Schiano has fixed Rutgers football once again! As it turns out, Temple lost a lot of production last season. Penn State is the benefactor of one such loss. That said, 61 points is nothing to scoff at, and I don’t know that Syracuse is going to be good enough to stop the Scarlet Knights.

Lando: Rutgers 28, Syracuse 21
Jared: Rutgers 27, Syracuse 17
Dylan: Rutgers 31, Syracuse 17
Clay: Rutgers 28, Syracuse 17
Tim: Rutgers 31, Syracuse 28
Eli: Rutgers 42, Syracuse 21

Purdue (-34) at UConn

Overreaction: Purdue is going bowling! The Boilers took care of business last week, and it looks like they’re going to take care of business against a UConn team that isn’t even good enough to compete with FCS teams at the moment. 34 points might seem like a lot, but UConn is that bad.

Lando: Purdue 42, UConn 3
Jared: Purdue 42, UConn 7
Dylan: Purdue 49, UConn 10
Clay: Purdue 45, UConn 10
Tim: Purdue 38, UConn 7
Eli: Purdue 55, UConn 10

Buffalo at Nebraska (-14)

Overreaction: Nebraska lost to Illinois! If there was a trap this week, it’s this here game. A lot of people are simply assuming that Buffalo will walk into memorial stadium and make it a close game, if not win outright. It would be oh so typical to see Nebraska come out swinging.

Lando: Nebraska 27, Buffalo 10
Jared: Nebraska 27, Buffalo 23
Dylan: Nebraska 31, Buffalo 20
Clay: Nebraska 34, Buffalo 20
Tim: Nebraska 38, Buffalo 14
Eli: Nebraska 45, Buffalo 14

Ball State at No. 11 Penn State (-22.5)

Overreaction: WE’RE GOING TO THE PLAYOFF! Calm down.

Lando: Stay tuned!
Jared: Stay tuned!
Dylan: Stay tuned!
Clay: Stay tuned!
Tim: Stay tuned!
Eli: Stay tuned!

No. 10 Iowa at No. 9 Iowa State (-4)

Overreaction: Iowa State is bad! If you go back and look at both of these teams’ games against Northern Iowa, you’ll realize that this kind of result is not uncommon for either team. As a result, this game is likely going to be interesting throughout.

Lando: Iowa State 24, Iowa 21
Jared: Iowa 20, Iowa State 17
Dylan: Iowa 17, Iowa State 13
Clay: Iowa State 27, Iowa 24
Tim: Iowa State 24, Iowa 20
Eli: Iowa 24, Iowa State 21

Eastern Michigan at No. 18 Wisconsin (-26)

Overreaction: Wisconsin Graham Mertz is garbage! Mertz was thrown into the wolves as a freshman, dealt with covid and a lack of continuity in the weirdest college football season outside of 2007, and opened his sophomore campaign against a team that was sick of hearing how bad they were a season prior. Mertz will be fine. Oh, and Wisconsin gets to start the healing process against the kind of team they’re built to grind into dust.

Lando: Wisconsin 31, Eastern Michigan 7
Jared: Wisconsin 42, Eastern Michigan 3
Dylan: Wisconsin 58, Eastern Michigan 7
Clay: Wisconsin 48, Eastern Michigan 10
Tim: Wisconsin 49, Eastern Michigan 7
Eli: Wisconsin 59, Eastern Michigan 10

Idaho at Indiana (TBD)

Overreaction: 2020 was a fluke! I won’t discount the possibility, but I think the story of last week’s game is how good Iowa is, not how bad Indiana will be. That said, the Hoosiers will likely finish below the second place they were expected to take this season.

Lando: Indiana 28, Idaho 10
Jared: Indiana 42, Idaho 10
Dylan: Indiana 52, Idaho 7
Clay: Indiana 38, Idaho 13
Tim: Indiana 35, Idaho 7
Eli: Indiana 49, Idaho 7

Howard at Maryland (TBD)

Overreaction: Maryland got their one win out of their system! I actually think the talent is starting to come together for the Terps. I don’t think Maryland is ready for primetime yet, but I also think they’re less likely to fall off a cliff when conference play starts for them (at least less likely than they have been in previous seasons).

Lando: Maryland 38, Howard 10
Jared: Maryland 42, Howard 7
Dylan: Maryland 66, Howard 3
Clay: Maryland 45, Howard 9
Tim: Maryland 69, Howard 0
Eli: Maryland 63, Howard 0

Washington at Michigan (-7)

Overreaction: Michigan, like Texas, is back! That may be the case, but I think the more likely scenario is that they were playing a MAC team and did what a Big Ten team is supposed to do to MAC teams. On the other hand, Washington was reportedly out its entire starting receiving line up for the Montana game. If they get any of those players back for Saturday, this might be closer than people think.

Lando: Michigan 34, Washington 21
Jared: Michigan 30, Washington 21
Dylan: Michigan 27, Washington 14
Clay: Michigan 31, Washington 13
Tim: Michigan 24, Washington 13
Eli: Michigan 21, Washington 17

Looking for standings?

Do not fear my dear reader! Those will release on Tuesdays, so be on the lookout for the first of such updates next week!