Michigan St vs Illinois College Football Spread/Handicapping
The Michigan State Spartans and their top flight defense might be all that is standing between Ohio State and a trip to the BCS Championship (I really hope not). It looks like MSU is going to be the top challenger in the Legends division but because they are so weak on offense nothing is guaranteed for this group.
Michigan State Spartans (6-1) vs. Illinois Fighting Illini (3-3)
Saturday October 26
Memorial Stadium – Champagne, IL
3:30PM
Moneyline: Michigan State -410, Illinois +330
Spread: Michigan State -10.5
O/U: 50
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Illinois has shown some improvement so far this season but they have still yet to win a conference game so it could also just be a result of clever early scheduling combined with some improvement. Odds are they are going to have to wait a few more weeks to get that first B10 win, if it comes at all.
Michigan State
Michigan State has a fantastic defense. They are first in yards allowed and rushing yards allowed and 4th against the pass and in points allowed. Only once have they let an opponent score more than 17 points in a game and that was to Indiana, the best offensive team in the conference.
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Normally with a defense like that you could book a slot to a conference championship game in advance but not so because the MSU offense is not very formidable.
There has been some improvement since inserting Connor Cook into the lineup but not as much as you would like, case in point, last week they scored only 14 points against Purdue and they are just 95th in total yards. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
The one saving grace is that more often than not they are getting the job done – a 4 point loss against Notre Dame.
They haven’t been killing backers either with a 3-3-1 ATS record.
Illinois
When the Illini dumped Cincinnati in week two 45-17 it looked like this team was going to be a surprise in the Big Ten this season. Two games into their conference schedule it is looking like they are still the team we have become accustomed to with losses to Wisconsin and Nebraska, both by 20 or more points.
This Illinois team has some offensive talent but their defense is just so porous.
In senior QB Nathan Scheelhaase they have one of the more active and accurate signal callers in the league but he can not do it all by himself back there.
He will be tested this week against the Spartans Green Wave but if he can hold up and make just a few big plays maybe they can make this one a game.
Michigan State’s inability to fully capitalize on their defense leaves them ripe for an upset any week. But I don’t think this will be it.
Spread Pick: Michigan State -10.5
O/U Pick: Under
Score Prediction: Michigan State 28 – Illinois 10
