Big Ten Weekly Pick-em: Week 7

Last week was another disappointing one for my picks. I find myself next to last in the standings in the BTB pick'em league. I thought Wisconsin could take the Buckeyes, and they almost did. And for some reason I went all homer and picked Michigan over Illinois, which for 15 minutes looked like a good pick.

The standings as of right now:

Gopher Nation	65
Paint the Town Orange	60
Off the Tracks ™	59
Michigan SportsCenter	59
Ground Zero East Lansing	58
Happy Hour Valley	58
Eleven Warriors	57
Lake the Posts	57
Zombie Nation	57
Enlightened Spartan	56
Maize'n Brew	56
The Only Game That Matters	56
The Buckeye Blog	55
Hoosier Report	55
Black Shoes Diary	54
Buckeye Battle Cry	54
BHGP (HS)	52
Varsity Blue	52
Boiled Sports	49
Hawkeye Sports News	48
The Nittany Line	48
Sparty MSU	46
Maize & Blue Nation	39
Nittany White Out	26

However, it's a long season and I have plenty of time to pick myself up and start making better picks. And it all starts this week.

Iowa @ Indiana, 12:00 PM, BTN
Last week I said that if Iowa kept losing, I'd just keep picking against them. They lost. So I should keep picking against them, right? Well, maybe. Indiana is a wildcard team, and they are playing pretty well right now. But not well enough to win close games. I take Iowa in this one...but it will be close.

Minnesota @ Illinois, 12:00 PM, ESPN
Illinois has maybe the best player in the Big Ten right now in Juice Williams. He may be inconsistent, but when he's on, he's on big time. He was on last week and I think that will carry over into this game. Minnesota is push over. Illinois rolls big.

Purdue @ Ohio State, 3:30 PM, ABC
Ohio State played like a much better team than I thought they were last week. I think they gain a lot of confidence playing well in Madison and that should show this week against Purdue. Pryor is now, and for the next 3 years the starting QB at The University of Ohio State. They will roll Purdue in this game and win by double digits.

Michigan State @ Northwestern, 3:30 PM, ESPN2
Ahh yes. Two teams ripe for a collapse. Both teams are playing well though. I hate to see Northwestern go down, because I'd love them to knock off Sparty in this game, but I just don't see it happening. NW has a decent rush defense, and MSU has a pretty good rusher with Ringer. But the NW offense will have a tough time scoring. MSU wins, but damn this will be a good game to watch!

Penn State @ Wisconsin, 8:00 PM, ESPN
The game of the week in the Big Ten. Penn State is on fire right now. Wisconsin is reeling from two close heartbreaking losses. I hope this game will be good, but I fear that Penn State will win by at least 3 scores. But it is in Madison and it is at night, so I think that has to be accounted for. Penn State still wins though.