NCAA FOOTBALL BETTING PREDICTION - MICHIGAN STATE @ NORTHWESTERN

NCAA Football

2008-10-11 - Michigan State at Northwestern

A Sports Betting Pick by Luccin

#19 Michigan State Spartans (5-1)
@ #22 Northwestern Wildcats (5-0)
Venue: Evanston, Illinois

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This sees a matchup between two ranked sides who have both made a decent start to the season. I feel the rankings are not doing them justice and my own rankings have them ranked at #8 (MSU) and #17 (NU).

This should be a high scoring affair with all recent games seeing 50+ points. Also to be noted is the fact that the travelling team has won 5 of the last 7 games.

Previous Matchups

2007 Michigan State 41-48 Northwestern
2006 Northwestern 38-41 Michigan State
2005 Michigan State 14-49 Northwestern
2002 Michigan State 39-24 Northwestern
2001 Northwestern 27-26 Michigan State

All time record, Michigan State lead 33-15

Michigan State :

The Spartans have started the season well, only an opening day defeat at decent California leaves a negative. Good wins over Notre Dame and Iowa show that this team is for real.

The offence has been led well by QB Brian Hoyer, although an increase in TD passes would be off great benefit. The real weapon though is NFL bound running back Javon Ringer, Ringer already has 3 200 yard rushing games this season and a very impressive 12 touchdowns in 6 games.

The defence is only average giving up nearly 350 yards a game but they are still making it hard for teams to convert yardage into points. If the running game is working then Michigan State will be very hard to beat.

Northwestern :

The Wildcats have started the season an impressive 5-0 but outside of last weeks win over Iowa the opposition has been fairly mediocre.

Only the win over second tier Southern Illinois could be described as comprehensive and this leaves me feeling that this team has no shot at the division title.

So far the game has all been about the pass, in fact quarteback C.J.Bacher accounts for nearly two thirds of the offense on his own. The running game is average and will struggle to find momentum this week.

On defense things look solid and only Duke have managed to post 20 points so far this term. The defensive line is key this week, NU must stop the run if they are to have any chance.

The Verdict:

A classic battle of running against passing, Michigan are a notch above anything that Northwestern has faced this season and it would take a great effort for them to come out on top.

This game is by no means one sided but I expect the Spartans to be too strong for Northwestern.

The Pick :