The Big Ten is full of interesting games this weekend and there might not be a better game than #23 Northwestern at Duke in the conference this week. I’m also interested to see if the Illinois defense can keep up their great start against North Carolina.
Here are my Big 10 Week 3 Picks:
Saturday, September 19
24 Illinois at North Carolina 17
I haven’t been impressed by the play of North Carolina this season and the Illinois defense has been fantastic to start the season. Yea, I know that was against inferior competition, but there’s something about the Fighting Illini that puts them over the top.
24 South Florida at Maryland 20
10 UNLV at Michigan 45
13 Air Force at #4 Michigan State 41
6 Kent State at Minnesota 35
17 #23 Northwestern at Duke 20
I love both of these teams and it’s really a shame that one of them will have to lose this early in the season, but like usual I’ll go with the home team. I expect both defenses to play exceptionally well and wouldn’t be shocked to see a score in the single digit range.
17 Nebraska at Miami (FL) 31
Nebraska suffered a heartbreaker in their opener against BYU and the Cornhuskers rebounded well when South Alabama came to town last week. I think this is the best Miami football team we’ve seen under Al Golden and Brad Kaaya is too much for the Cornhuskers defense to handle.
14 Northern Illinois at #1 Ohio State 52
35 Virginia Tech at Purdue 13
17 Troy at #24 Wisconsin 45
38 Western Kentucky at Indiana 37
I like Indiana and think they’ll have an opportunity to make a splash this season, but this defense is just awful and I don’t think they can stop the Western Kentucky high-powered offense.
17 Rutgers at Penn State 21
The Rutgers let me down last week, losing to Washington State and I think the team has too much on their mind after everything that happened with their coach earlier in the week. The Penn State offense has struggled so far this season and I wouldn’t be shocked to finally see them open it up in this game, but I think the Scarlet Knights can keep it close.
21 Pittsburgh at Iowa 24
Pittsburgh’s offense took a step back a week after losing star running back James Conner for the season and now they have to face a good defense in Iowa. I think Pitt can keep the game close with Iowa winning on a late touchdown.
Last Week
12-2
Season
20-7
