Wolverines vs Boilermakers NCAA Football Spread/Handicapping
The Big Ten race is wide open this year. Ohio State and Penn State have looked as good as anyone in the league, but they aren’t eligible for the conference title. Michigan has been humbled a couple times, but the Wolverines are still one of the best teams in a conference that is down.
Michigan Wolverines vs. Purdue Boilermakers
Ross-Ade Stadium, West Lafayette Indiana
Saturday October 6, 4:00 PM EST on Big Ten Network
College Football Betting Odds from from Bovada
Moneyline: Off
College Football Spread: Michigan -3 (-110) vs. Purdue +3 (-110)
Over/Under: 58
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Purdue was a sleeper team I had my eye on at the beginning of the season, and they have played as well as anyone in the conference thus far. Let’s look at this big conference matchup.
Michigan
Brady Hoke is doing a great job turning around this Michigan program, but this season hasn’t started the way he had hoped. Michigan was dominated by Alabama in the opener, and they cost themselves a win against Notre Dame by turning the ball over constantly.
It is Denard Robinson’s senior season, but he hasn’t been as spectacular this year as he has been in the past years. Robinson has 8 interceptions compared to just 6 touchdowns this year. He is still running the ball very well, but teams are starting to stack the box and dare Michigan to pass.
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The Michigan offense is 75th in the nation in total offense, which is a huge drop from its production the past couple years.
The place where Michigan won games last year was on defense.
This year’s defense has been solid against the pass, but they are getting chewed up on the ground. Losing Mike Martin in the middle of the defensive front has obviously hurt this team a great deal.
Opponents are averaging 182 rushing yards and 23 points per game against this unit.
Purdue
The Purdue Boilermakers have one loss so far this year, and that was a 20-17 loss at Notre Dame.
The Fighting Irish have proven to be a very good team so far this year, so that certainly isn’t a bad loss at this point. Purdue hasn’t played anyone else good this year, but they have taken care of business. [soliloquy id=”82219″]
The Boilermakers have scored at least 48 points in three of their four games thus far this season. Caleb TerBush and Rob Henry are both very good quarterbacks, so the depth at quarterback is very good. Akeem Shavers is a pretty good runner, and he has taken care of the ball well. Antavian Edison is the team’s big play maker on the outside, but OJ Ross is very reliable too.
The strength of this team is really their defense.
Purdue has one of the best defensive linemen in the nation in Kawann Short. Short is the kind of guy who can change a game all by himself. The Purdue defense is allowing only 105.2 rushing yards per contest.
They’ll get a big test from Robinson and the Wolverines this week. Can Purdue’s defense lead the way in an upset win?
Michigan’s offense isn’t performing up to expectations this year, and the Boilermakers defense is much better than most realize.
Look for a relatively low scoring game.
Free College Football Pick: Under 58
