Big-10 Picks Week #4

Free Big-10 Picks Week 4 September 18th, 2008 ? I was 2-1-1 in free plays for the Big-10 in week #3. This does not include my Game of the Week winner on Purdue (+8) over Oregon. My lone loser was Illinois laying the big number against Lousiana Lafayette. That game was a lot closer than anyone expected it to be. Last week: 2-1-1 This season: 8-4-1 GAME OF THE WEEK LAST WEEK: Purdue (+8) over Oregon * *WINNER* * GAME OF THE WEEK YTD: 2-0 (+6.00) This week's picks: Temple v. Penn St. 12 P.M. est Saturday This is my top pick of the week from this conference. Visit http://www.sportslynx.com/members/wilsoncfb.html to get this pick. ???? - ??? - ??? NORTHWESTERN (-10.5) over Ohio 12 P.M. est. Saturday Ohio comes into this game with an 0-3 record. I don't know if many bettors realize that. I think the lasting image of Ohio thus far on the season is of them taking Ohio St. for a ride a couple of weeks ago. The truth of the matter is that Ohio is not a good football team. They have only had one winning season over the last seven years. Their strong play Ohio St. has alerted Northwestern for this contest and now their's little chance that the Wildcats will take them lightly and look pass this game. That's bad news for Ohio who could sure use a team looking pass them now. They have fought hard in their games thus far but have come up short.. At some point your team starts to get deflated and that usually starts right about now. Look for Ohio to put up the strong fight but some of their deficiencies on defense and inefficiency on offense will cause their collapse. Northwestern plays well at home and will get it done in this one. Wilson Says: Northwestern (-10.5) ???? ? ??? - ? MICHIGAN ST. (-9) over Notre Dame 3:30 P.M. - Saturday A season ago, these two teams met in South Bend and the Spartans hammered the Fighting Irish 31-14. Of course this leaves Notre Dame wanting revenge but you know what I always say about revenge; you have to be in a position to do something about it. You know how many teams Baylor, Temple and Buffalo want revenge against? It doesn't matter because they are not good enough to do anything about it. How much has changed for these two teams since last year? I think they are both better than a season ago so with that in mind, how's Notre Dame going to close the gap especially playing in East Lansing. Look for Michigan St., who has already suffered a loss, to play with a sense of urgency. Since losing to Cal on the road in their opener, Michigan St. has gotten their defense under control and has showed the same efficiency on offense. I just think that they are going to bring too much to the table for Notre Dame to handle. The Fighting Irish are flying high (Charlie Weiss' bumped knee aside) after the Michigan win and will be brought back to reality with their first loss of the year. Wilson Says: Michigan St. (-9) ??? - ??? ? ??? Ball St. (+3) over INDIANA 7 P.M. est. Saturday You may not realize it if you live outside of the Indiana area but this is an interesting matchup. This game pits a pair of undefeated teams that have gone at it pretty tough in recent years. Indiana is a team trying to get the program turned around a corner. Ball St. is a team looking to end a losing streak against Indiana that they feel they can beat. Ball St. comes in with a 3-0 record with all wins by double digits. They have a strong passing attack and overall offense headed by quarterback Nate Davis. The 9 returning starters on offense have come out strong this season and Ball St. is averaging 41 points per game. They will put an awful lot of pressure on Indiana's defense and see them having great success. Indiana may not be taking this game as seriously as Ball St. The Hoosiers are off to a 2-0 start but after winning the last two times they faced Ball St. recently, they may be thinking this will be status quo. However, this is a much improved Ball St. squad they are facing and they could slip up. Kellen Lewis has done a good job running the spread but I think he might get outgunned in this game. Wilson Says: Ball St. (+3) ???? - ??? - ???? Central Michigan (+10.5) over PURDUE 12 P.M. est - Saturday I have some concerns with the line in this contest. Purdue just lost a hard one versus Oregon last week and now they are facing a team from the MAC Conference. Why isn't the line on this game running in Purdue's favor. The line opened at 10.5 and has stayed there all week up till press time on Thursday. That's a troubling sign. Somebody knows something that we don't. The truth of the matter is that Central Michigan is 2-1 on the season and has shown that they can put up some points. They were hammered by Georgia which has caused some prejudices against them by the oddsmakers and betting public. Nevertheless, the last meeting between these two teams was in a bowl game in January 2007. Central Michigan played tough in that game and lost by three. Somewhere there, they figured out how to attack Purdue and they will come with it again. Look for another shootout and for C. Michigan to sneak just inside of this big number. Wilson Says: Central Michigan (+10.5) ????- - ? ??- - ???- Troy St. (+21) over OHIO ST. 12 P.M. est. - Saturday The knee jerk reaction here would be to jump on Ohio St. and call for the absolute blow out of Troy St. However, one week after fiddling around with Ohio, the Buckeyes went out to Los Angeles and were totally punchless versus the Trojans. That's an indication to me that Ohio St. is just not good enough. I don't believe in Todd Boeckman as a signal caller and Terrelle Pryor should get more and more snaps as the season goes on. Ohio St.'s offense is in trouble. Chris Wells comes back but I don't know that he's going to be enough to hand Troy St. a blow out loss. The Trojans of Troy St. are no punks. They will come into your stadium and make you play the entire 60 minutes and have you wondering if you will survive. They have covered the number against the likes of Arkansas, Florida St., Missouri, Nebraska and others in recent history. They are 2-0 on the season in a big way having outscored their two opponents by a combined score of 96-17. They come into this game with a tremendous amount of confidence and that's all that a team like this needs in a game like this. Take Troy to keep it close. Wilson Says: Troy St. (+21)