Big 10 College Football: Greg Frank picks Maryland at Rutgers and Iowa at Michigan
Maryland (-13.5) @ Rutgers (55)
Pick: Over 55
Anyone want to take an over with a team that got embarrassed in a shutout loss at home last week against another team that just fired its coach? We do! The Maryland offense has taken several steps back in its last two games against Temple and Penn State. It feels like ages ago that the Terps dropped 63 points on Syracuse in College Park. It was a month ago now as Maryland had a bye dropped in between its losses at Temple and against Penn State. But, we think both of those losses for Maryland said more about the quality of the defenses they were facing and certainly expect Mike Locksley’s offense to get back on track in Piscataway.
Rutgers recently moved on from Chris Ash and appointed Nunzio Campanile to be the interim head coach for the remainder of 2019. Campanile’s background is on the offensive side of the ball and we’re expecting the new coach to come out with a couple of wrinkles to fire up a Scarlet Knights team that desperately needs a jolt of energy. If Rutgers can score just half of what Penn State did in last week’s 59-0 shutout in Maryland, this game will go over 55 total points. That’s a bet we’re willing to make.
Iowa (+3.5) @ Michigan (48)
Pick: Michigan -3.5
Iowa sure feels like the most public dog of the week in college football. Is anyone buying Michigan’s blowout win last week against Rutgers as a sign that the Wolverines have righted the ship? Perhaps a better question is, did anyone even watch Michigan’s blowout win last week against Rutgers? There were far more eyes on the Wolverines two weeks ago when they got obliterated in Madison by Wisconsin. However, the Badgers play in the Big 10 West and Michigan is in the conference’s East division. That’s important because as crazy as this sounds, Michigan still controls its destiny to play in the Big 10 championship game and maybe get another crack at Wisconsin. It’s a daunting task for the Wolverines as they’ll almost certainly have to run the table in conference play which would include victories here against Iowa, in two weeks at Penn State, and home wins against Michigan State and Ohio State. Regardless of what the future holds for Jim Harbaugh in Ann Arbor, I have to think in at least one of these big conference games Michigan comes to play. Given Harbaugh’s struggles against Michigan State and Ohio State, and that the Penn State game is in State College, Saturday seems like the most likely spot for the Wolverines to get a win over a ranked opponent in the Big 10.
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