Breaking BIG

Welcome to your weekly game guide, where we'll guide you through the upcoming BIG Ten match-ups this weekend and who to root for, using our own blend of seasoning, reasoning, and irrational thinking.

The Ohio State Buckeyes are going to ride the Colum-BUS to College Park, Maryland to take on the Terrapins, led by former UConn commander Randy Edsall.  In his fourth season, he sports a record of 15-24 or thereabouts.  Good move for UConn, if you ask me.  But, you didn't.

The opening line favored the Bucks by 10, but has dropped to 7.5, depending on whose line it is anyway.

The Buckeyes are not the team you're rooting for. (Jedi mind trick.  Works on the weak-minded.  Covers most Buckeye fans.)

GO TERPS!

Indiana is hosting North Texas.  I'm too lazy to look up a line.  Let's assume for a moment that someone outside of Bloomingdales Bloomington actually cares about this game.  We here at the Lions Den have no particular beef with Indiana, since we don't care about basketball.  The Hoosiers are on our schedule, so in terms of schedule strength, it makes sense we root for the Hoosiers.  Whatever.

GO INDIANA!

The Mighty Men of THEM head east to New Joisey to take on the Scarleted Knights of Rutgers.  This is a concussive juggernaut of a game if ever there was one.  Rutgers is already calling it a rivalry.  Just what the wolverines needed.  Another rival in scarlet.  The wolverines are reeling from accusations of playing players in a coma (which would at least explain their poor record and on the field performance.)  Hoke is on the Hot Seat, but the head hunters are looking for Athletic Director Dave Brandon as well.  It's a-maize-ing what mischief those Michiganders can get into when they don't have football to distract them.

The reddish knights are actually favored by 2 in this contest.  Can Brady Hoke find enough injured players to beat the Knights?

I'm really torn on this one.  First, there is the generally accepted school of thought that you never root for THEM.  (Unless they are playing Notre Dame, or an undefeated Buckeye team, and even then, it goes against the natural laws of the universe to do so.)

On the one hand, if the wolverines lose, there collective backs will be against the wall more than ever, making them more desperate.  The only thing more dangerous than a nasty varmint, is a desperate one.  BUT . . . another loss could be demoralizing.  It could further erode their confidence and team spirit.  It might break their collective backs for the rest of the season, making them an easier target for us the following week.  Decisions . . . decisions . . .

Strength of schedule is meaningless since we play both teams.

We've already bested Rutgers, so the only logical conclusion is to say . . .

GO KNIGHTS!

The Wascally Wisconsin Badgers take on the highly annoying purplish Wildcats of Northwestern.  Boy did we here in the Lions Den underestimate the size of the fight in that cat.  Even on the road, and despite an upset over Penn State by the Cats, the badgers are the betting favorite by 8.

I personally don't think Northwestern is that good, but I'm not convinced that Wisconsin is all that either.  Take away their run game, and they are beatable.  I also wonder whether Northwestern can sustain the level of intensity they showed last week.  I kind of doubt it, but we will go with:

GO CATS!

Purdue and Illinois will face off in Champaigne.  This game barely eclipses the Indiana-North Texas game in terms of interest.  We do not like Illinois.  We do not like their poaching coaches.  But since we don't play Purdue, we'll throw the Illini a bone.  And the Illini are favored by 8.5 anyway.

GO ILLINI!

So let's see, what else do we have.  Minnesota is off.  Iowa is off.  Penn State is obviously off.  Is there anybody else?

Oh, look what we have here!

Two ranked BIG teams colliding?

The Nebraska Corn Shuckers are heading to East Lansing to take on the Spartans.  The 5-0 Shuckers are ranked 19th in the AP, while the 3-1 Spartans come in at #10.  Sparty is favored by a touchdown.  And while there is no hate here at the Lions Den for Nebraska fans, we still have not forgotten 1994, nor the non-touchdown a couple of years ago in Lincoln.  We have no love for Dantonio either.  We don't play the Shuckers, but our strength of schedule will be enhanced and seasoned by a MSU win.

GO SPARTANS!

And, in case you missed it, UCF defeated Houston 17-12 in a wild finish tonight.  Houston was driving and had goal to go.  A holding penalty backed them up.  The UCF D let the cougar quarterback squirt free, but as he sprinted and danced toward the end zone, pirouetting and stretching to cross the goal line, the ball was knocked loose, and ruled a touch back as it rolled out of bounds.  UCF ball.  Replay confirmed.  Game Over.  And just for the record, that was not a fumble in Lincoln two years ago, but an unrequited touchdown.  GO SPARTANS again!