Breaking B1G: Week 3

Week 2 picks: 7-5
Season total: 17-7 (.708)

All times eastern. My picks in bold.


Saturday, September 15th
12:00:
Charleston Southern @ Illinois - BTN
Western Michigan @ Minnesota - BTN
Arkansas State @ #-/24 Nebraska - ESPN2
California @ #12/- Ohio State - ABC
Eastern Michigan @ Purdue - BTN

3:30:
Northern Iowa @ Iowa - BTN
UMass @ #17/18 Michigan - BTN
Boston College @ Northwestern - BTN
Navy @ Penn State - ABC/ESPN2 (regional/outer market)

8:00:
Ball State @ Indiana - BTN
#20/19 Notre Dame @ #10/10 Michigan State - ABC
Utah State @ #-/22 Wisconsin - BTN

Biggest must-watch:

Most folks can probably agree that the Notre Dame - Michigan State matchup in East Lansing at night is the game to watch. In a week when every Big Ten team is playing at home, most are going up against vastly inferior opponents. Michigan fans might be rushing home after what should be a big win against UMass in order to get their first real look at our week 4 and week 8 opponents going head to head.

Upset Alert!
Where to start. Everything I thought I knew about Nebraska and Wisconsin (and Iowa for that matter) was altered last week. I hope that was just the side effect of traveling to the west coast, which usually spells doom for any Big Ten team. That said, I think those guys are safe this week. I'd love to put Ohio State on upset alert, but Cal's loss to Nevada at home in week 1 ended that.

Minnesota is only a 2 1/2-point favorite against WMU. So I suppose it wouldn't really be an upset.

Snoozer of the week:
Sadly, in the eyes of the college football world, most B1G games are snoozers this week. Nine different networks aired Big Ten games in week 2. In week 3, BTN gets the lion's share with 8 games on their air. This week is a money grab for smaller schools, and a week of bought victories for most of the Big Ten.

Bold predictions!
Big Ten doormats Indiana and Minnesota are my two conference losses this week, although those games can and should be close. The bulk of the league games are snoozers. Michigan State - Notre Dame, Northwestern - BC, and possibly Ohio State - Cal should be interesting enough for the common fan.

Week three should see 10 wins for the Big Ten.