By Mike Luce
Dating back to 2007, the Big Ten is 17-41 against ranked opponents.
The conference can start the turnaround on Saturday. In games with postseason implications, #7 Michigan State travels to #3 Oregon, Michigan travels to #16 Notre Dame, and #8 Ohio State hosts Virginia Tech.
Our picks: Oregon -12.5 , Michigan +3.5, Ohio State -11.
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Elsewhere, perhaps the best game of the weekend will be #14 Southern Cal at #13 Stanford. Stanford is favored by 2.5 or 3, depending where you look.
The spread equates to the standard three-point margin to account for home field advantage. In other words, Vegas doesn’t know what will happen in this game. We don’t either. Tune in (2:30 p.m. kickoff Saturday) to find out which squad may represent the Pac-12 in the playoffs should Oregon falter.
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Bring on the Creampuffs: most ranked teams take the field on Saturday in uninspiring matches against the likes of Citadel, Florida Atlantic, Lamar, Northwestern State, and McNeese State.
To clarify: McNeese State hails from Louisiana, not McNeese.
Further: Murray State is in Kentucky, not Murray.
Finally: Northwestern State is in Louisiana, not Northwestern. As we all know, Northwestern is in Illinois, which is a state, which Northwestern is not.
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The College Football Report Sacred Free Range Chicken went a middling 1-2 last week.
Here are the Chicken’s picks for Week Two:
- State University of New York-Buffalo (+3.5; the Bulls, getting the points!) at Army, 11:00 a.m.
- Northern Illinois (+7) at Northwestern, 2:30 p.m.
- Eastern Michigan at Florida (-38), 3:00 p.m.
- Michigan at #16 Notre Dame (-3.5; down from -6, which probably doesn’t bode well for the Irish), 6:30 p.m.
Good cluck!
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Mike Luce is our man on campus – every Friday and Monday. He welcomes your comments.
Posted on September 5, 2014