B1G Week 4 Preview

Luckily week 3 is in the rear view mirror, because for the second straight season it was embarrassing. While I have done well in my weekly upset picks, the B1G selections have stumped me for most of the season. Let's hope I can get back on track in week 4.

San Jose State @ Minnesota 12:00
This game could be one of the more intriguing matchups this week.  The Spartans were an 11 win team a year ago, and pushed Stanford in the opener for a half.  Minnesota is looking to respond to Coach Kill's 4th seizure during a Gopher game, and they could be without starting quarterback Phillip Nelson.  If SJSU could score 14 points on one of the best defenses in the country, I think they will be able to top 20 and could push 30 against the Gophers.  Will Minnesota be able to score consistently enough? They will try to pound the ball on the ground as the backup quarterback gets comfortable.  Before starting this preview I was planning to go with Minnesota, but now I want to lean towards the Spartans to get the big road upset.  

Florida A&M @ Ohio State 12:00
And the Buckeyes are back to playing teams that would struggle to win high school state championships.  Urban could start at quarterback in this one, and OSU would still hang 40 points. The question here will be does Ohio State finish with more points than A&M yards.

Western Michigan @ Iowa 12:00
The Broncos are probably sick of playing the B1G as this will be their 3rd matchup in 4 weeks.  WMU hung with Northwestern for most of the opening half last week, but in the end Northwestern pulled away for an easy win.  Meanwhile, Iowa struggled to close the door on a bad Iowa State team.  As like most Hawkeye previews, this game is not going to be pretty.  Look for Mark Weisman to add another 25+ carries, and for him to eclipse the 150 yard mark.  Iowa should be able to win comfortably against a bad MAC team.

Maine @ Northwestern 3:30
I was close to going with this game as the marquee matchup of the week, I hope I went with the right choice. Seriously, Northwestern? You scheduled Maine? Do they even have a football team? The Wildcats should cruise in this snoozer.

South Dakota State @ Nebraska 3:30
Just another week in the life of the Blackskirt defense. The Husker will look hold SDSU to under 500 yards, but it might be a challenge for this defense. Just kidding, South Dakota State is miserable. Even though Taylor Martinez likely will not play, Nebraska should be able to roll with Ameer Abdullah and Imani Cross.  The real question here will be does Bo Pelini have more sideline/post game blow ups than SDSU points?  

Kent State @ Penn State 3:30
The Nittany Lions will look to bounce back against a decent Kent State team.  I would guess the Penn State defense wants to get back on the field quickly, and it will help that they don't have to defend Blake Bortles.  Hackenberg should have another big game completing passes to Alan Robinson, and the Nittany Lions should get away with a comfortable win.

Purdue @ Wisconsin 3:30
Hurray! It is the first conference game of the season.  Purdue performed much better against Notre Dame than I expected, and Wisconsin got robbed out in the desert against a good Arizona State team.  I still think the Boilermakers are the worst team in the conference, and I am holding out hope that the Badgers are going to be the team to challenge Ohio State in the Leaders Division.  Look for Melvin Gordon to have a huge day again, but I think Joel Stave continues to struggle under center.  I don't think Purdue is a good enough team to make Wisconsin pay for the poor quarterbacking, and the Badger run game should carry the team to a 1-0 B1G record.

Michigan State @ Notre Dame 3:30
This game has a lot of intrigue for me. After Michigan beat Notre Dame I really thought the Irish could still be a BCS team, but then they struggled against a bad Purdue team while Michigan should have lost to Akron.  So I am interested to see which team shows up this week. As for Michigan State, their offense looked incapable of getting out of its own way after the first two weeks, but then the Spartans bounced back with an impressive 55 point outburst against Youngstown State.  I do think the Notre Dame defense is very good, and I don't know if MSU will be able to exploit some of the weaknesses like Michigan or Purdue.  The Spartans do not have Devin Gardner, and they don't have a reliable pass catching running back to use for screen passes. I think Michigan State will go back to struggling mightily on offense. The good news for the Spartans is that Tommy Rees is lining up under center for the domers, and he is good for at least one bone head mistake every game. This will likely mean that the MSU defense gets back on the board in this game. The Notre Dame offense looked very good against Michigan 2 weeks ago, but then struggled against Purdue (which gave up 42 to Cincinnati). Pat Narduzzi is going to dial up a lot of blitz packages to try to pressure Rees into bad throws, and it will be interesting to see if the Irish OL can hold up.  I think the MSU defense is much better than Michigan's, and the ND offense only scored 23 in Ann Arbor.  This game will likely be closer than I expected 2 weeks ago, but Notre Dame, behind a more balanced attack, should be able to pull out a low scoring win.

Missouri @ Indiana 8:00
This is the 3rd and final intriguing game around the B1G this week.  Indiana lost a winable game against Navy, but then responded by pounding a good Bowling Green team last week.  The Hoosiers need to win this game if they are going to be bowl eligible, but the Tigers will provide a stiff test.  A win over an SEC team will be the best win for Coach Wilson during his time in Bloomington, and the season outlook could look a light brighter if they can pull out the victory.  Even though Missouri is an SEC team, they are a bad SEC team.  They likely will not win a single conference game this season.  However, they do boast a pretty potent offense behind James Franklin, which spells trouble for the Hoosiers. This game should be an entertaining touchdown-fest, and I am going to go with Indiana at home.  I think their defense made some strides last week that hopefully they can replicate again, and the Hoosier offense is going to shred a very weak Tiger defense.