I went out on a limb in the first week on a few games and missed badly. I had Jim Harbaugh leading Michigan to a win in his debut and Ohio State getting upset by Virginia Tech, I was wrong on both of those picks. I’m determined not to make those same mistakes again, so I spent more time studying these games. The Big Ten doesn’t have many great games this week outside of Michigan State-Oregon, but I still think there are some games that have the potential to be very entertaining.
Here’s my Big Ten Week 2 Picks:
Saturday, September 12
17 Oregon State at Michigan 28
Jim Harbaugh will make his home debut as the head coach at Michigan and the Wolverines will have another tough Pac-12 opponent to square up against. Michigan will need to get more production out of the quarterback position if they hope to win this game. The Wolverines defense looked great against Utah and I think they’ll hold Oregon State under 20 points, which should be enough to win with Oregon State’s defense not being as talented as Utah’s.
10 Western Illinois at Illinois 38
31 Bowling Green at Maryland 34
20 Buffalo at Penn State 24
Penn State looked absolutely horrendous and their opening loss to Temple. Christian Hackenberg continued to struggle under pressure and has shown no signs of improvement. The Nittany Lions will look to run the ball more against an inexperienced Buffalo defense, but I still have Penn State on upset alert (if you could even call it that). In the end I think they prevail and Hackenberg finally looks like the quarterback everyone is hyping him up to be.
10 Indiana State at Purdue 37
13 Miami (OH) at Wisconsin 41
17 Hawaii at #1 Ohio State 49
21 Washington State at Rutgers 35
31 Minnesota at Colorado State 14
6 Eastern Illinois at Northwestern 40
28 Iowa at Iowa State 24
This is a series that dates back to 1894 and it seems like the games are always close when Hawkeyes and Cyclones take the field. Both teams have different styles with Iowa relying on their run game and defense, while Iowa State likes to air-it-out in an attempt to rack up the points. I think this should be a very fun game to watch, but at the end of the day I’ll take the more physical team.
35 #7 Oregon at #5 Michigan State 38
Michigan State had their playoff aspirations put to a halt at Oregon last year and are looking for some redemption. The Spartans will look to win this shootout under the leadership of senior quarterback Connor Cook. I expect this game to be a high scoring one, with the Spartans winning close late.
10 South Alabama at Nebraska 45
28 Florida International at Indiana 31
Last Week
8-5
