Big Ten Weekly Pick-em: Week 5

Well, last week I did pretty well with my picks, the only teams I had wrong were Indiana losing to Ball State and Minnesota blowing out FAU. Not at all bad, really.

So as we head into week 5, we head into the first weekend of Big Ten season. Every team except Purdue is matched up with a B10 opponent, Purdue is @ ND.

Michigan State @ Indiana, 12:00PM, ESPN
After having seen what Indiana did against Ball State and seeing how Michigan State pretty much handled ND, I think everyone will take MSU in this game. Javon Ringer will get about 350 carries for 1200 yards. Michigan State rolls.

Minnesota @ tOSU, 12:00PM, BTN
Here's the thing. tOSU is not as good as people thought they'd be. Well, ok, I knew they were overrated, I called it back in July or June. I also said MSU and Penn State would be the B10 darlings by season's end, and I'll stand by that. And judging by how awful tOSU has looked in the past 3 weeks, this blogger would not be surprised to see Minnesota take down the Buckeyes in Columbus this weekend. But, I'll take tOSU in this game because even I am still not convinced that tOSU is as bad as they've shown recently.

Northwestern @ Iowa, 12:00PM, ESPN Classic
I'm going to take NW in this one. Even though Iowa is at home, Northwestern is coming into this game 4-0 and very confident. Iowa just lost to Pitt. Kirk Ferentz has gone from genius 4 years ago to laughing stock of the B10. And until the nimrods at Iowa realize that and fire him, I'll just keep picking their opponent each week.

Illinois @ Penn State, 8:00PM, ABC
Easily the best matchup in the B10 this weekend. On paper, this should be a good game. Aside from how Oregon State played last night, this is still Penn State's first true test of the year. They steamrolled through their non-conf schedule just like they should have...thus I will pick PSU over Illinois. Not that I am totally confident with that pick, but on paper, Penn State should win. And until they stop winning games they should win, I'll keep going with them.

Purdue at Notre Dame, 3:30PM, NBC
I am going with Purdue here. This is a very big game for the Boilermakers. And just like last week, I'm picking them because this is Joe Tiller's last year and he needs to beat ND one last time. ND is at home, but that shouldn't matter. We found out last week that ND is still the crappy team from 07. And let's face it, Purdue is not half bad either.