There aren’t many close spreads across the nation this week, and that’s nowhere more apparent than the Big 10.
Only one game even has a spread in single digits, and that’s more than a touchdown with Nebraska giving away 8.5 points against Rutgers. Are the big spreads an indication that we’ll only see blowouts? We doubt it, and we’ve already talked about two Big 10 games in our Lockness Monsters.
Here are two games we’ll keep an eye on this weekend. Last week’s betting guide for each major conference went 6-4 and was 2-0 in the Big 10. Overall for the season, the betting guides have been 11-7 in the Big 10 and 53-43 overall in the power-five conferences.
Maryland (+15) at Michigan State
We completely understand why everyone’s jumping on Michigan State this week. This is a supposed top-10 team that is coming off a close loss on a questionable call. It would appear that the Spartans would take out their frustrations on an inferior team.
Not so fast, though.
The Spartans mostly resided in the top-1o based on beating Oregon early in the season, which now doesn’t look even close to as impressive. Also, the past years’ successes and preseason ranking didn’t hurt the Spartans.
But let’s not gloss over what the Spartans have done in the Big 10. Four of the five games have been within one possession, and the only game that wasn’t close, was against Indiana, where the Spartans used a monster fourth quarter to blow open the game.
Although Maryland is terrible, it hasn’t been so bad since firing Randy Edsall. Since that move, the Terrapins have competed well against Ohio State, Iowa, Penn State and Wisconsin. Those are four of the top Big 10 teams, and two of them have been within one possession, while the other two were close for the most part.
We’re not buying Michigan State and we’re not completely fading Maryland’s ability to keep games close. — Go against the chalk with Maryland
Nebraska at Rutgers (+8.5)
How soon we forget that Nebraska’s defense isn’t atrocious.
We understand why oddsmakers are putting the Cornhuskers as major favorites this week. Sometimes those close wins can catapult a team into a better team. And we’ve already discussed the bad luck that Nebraska had endured during this season.
But we’re wondering how the Cornhuskers can cover more than a touchdown without playing any defense.
We’re still only two weeks removed from Nebraska allowing Purdue to hang 55 points on the “Blackshirts.” And it’s not as if Nebraska played any defense last week in its 39-38 victory.
We understand that Rutgers is awful and hasn’t done much in the last three weeks, but that competition has been stiff, with games against Michigan, Ohio State and Wisconsin.
Nebraska hasn’t proven enough to have that big of a spread. We’re going with the Scarlet Knights to cover. — Go against the chalk with Rutgers
Other Big 10 games
Ohio State (-16.5) at Illinois
Purdue at Northwestern (-16)
Michigan (-13) at Indiana
Minnesota at Iowa (-11.5)
