Matchup:  Northwestern Wildcats (2-3, 1-1 conference) at Michigan State Spartans (2-3, 0-2 conference)
Date: Saturday, October 15, 2016 at 2:30 pm CDT
TV:  BTN
Line: MSU favored. Opened at -7 bet, down to 4.5, as of today, you can get the ‘Cats and 6.  O/U hovering around 41.5

What a confusing game.  I think fans of both of these teams are wondering what the rest of the season will hold.  Sparty dominated Furman and then pasted the Irish.  Sparty Nation again thought Coach Mark had pulled a rabbit out of his hat and they were going to again dominate this season.  Big Bad Bucky came to town and just destroyed them 30-6.  A demoralizing overtime loss to the Hoosiers and another pasting by BYU last week has King Leonidas thinking he wants to pull the nickname.  On the other side, Northwestern starts off with losses to W. Michigan (still undefeated), Illinois State (bad loss), beat Duke (who almost beat Louisville), looked overmatched against an undefeated Nebraska team and then somehow win at Iowa.  Just a confusing situation.  This may be the week where the losing team looks back and says “that’s the game we should have won”. 

Iowa was favored big, but moronic penalties and some very fortunate breaks went the ‘Cats' way.  Carr caught three touchdowns, while JJ added another with 171 yards rushing. Ifeadi Odenigbo was a beast, contributing to six sacks for the team, and the D came up big when it mattered. 

Coach Mark was so sickened after the last loss that he opened up the QB position to open completion.  I think this just fuels the fire.

Unfortunately, I don’t think NU stacks up well against the Spartans.  NU is not the Persians and Xerxes, and just does not have the horses to overpower.  It will be tight but NU falls late.

Pick:  23-17

Take the ‘Cats and the points and the under

Season:  0-4 straight up and 0-3-1 ATS pushing against Iowa