Big Ten Predictions: Week 8

Week 8 in this years football season has arrived and I want to chime in on what I believe will happen in the Big Ten.

The Ohio State University will be hosting the Minnesota Golden Gophers. OSU was upset last week with their loss to Purdue so they will be out for blood. Ohio State usually rebounds big after a loss unfortunately they get to play Minnesota who beat up on Purdue just a couple of weeks ago. Look for this game to be decently close but OSU will pull away later in the third quarter.

The Indiana Hoosiers will be venturing north into Evanston Illinois for a matchup of bottom tier Big Ten teams. This game is going to be high scoring and will be a game of bad defenses. Indiana gives up a ton of passing yards as does Northwestern so this game is a toss-up in my opinion.

Illinois is the worst team in the Big Ten by far and Purdue just came off a huge emotional upset of Ohio State. Purdue is looking to put together some wins to finish the season strong. Even though these teams probably aren't making a bowl game this year they both are trying to get some positives out of this season and I think that Purdue will come out big in this game.

One of the more intriguing games of this weekend is going on in East Lansing. Michigan State is playing host to the Iowa Hawkeyes and will be trying to ruin Iowa's perfect season. I don't quite understand why this line is as low as it is but I truly don't think it will matter. Iowa's defense will be out to push this team to victory and will do so quite easily in my opinion.

Now for the most intriguing game coming from the Big Ten this weekend will be host Michigan playing Penn State. Michigan is basically coming off a bye week with the easy win against Delaware State and Penn State easily dismantled Minnesota last week. Every game that Michigan has played this year they have either won or been in the game. They have surmounted numerous comebacks and have fallen short in two games. I think this week Michigan gets put back on the college football map and finally gets its signature win of the season. It will be a hard fought game on both sides but I think that Michigan's offense is going to be clicking on all cylinders.

And for all you gambling lovers here are my picks from the Big Ten this weekend. Of course these are just my opinions so please don't come looking for me if I mysteriously go win less!

Minnesota +17 @ Ohio State

Northwester -5 vs. Indiana

Purdue -11 vs. Illinois

Iowa -1 @ Michigan State

Michigan +4.5 vs. Penn State