TOC Weekly Picks

After losing to Ohio State, Michigan State is in need of a bounce back win against Nebraska. The Cornhuskers are playing their best football of the season, and the Spartans need to be prepared for a tough game. Check out our staff picks for this week’s action.

Matt Sheehan

Michigan State 23, Nebraska 21

Disclaimer: That’s if Rocky Lombardi starts. If he doesn’t, take away about 17 of those points for MSU. Nebraska is the hot team a lot of people are talking about, and it should have MSU fans scared...until you actually look at who they’ve beaten in the last month. They’ve beaten Minnesota, Bethune Cookman and Illinois. Not exactly the SEC West. I think Nebraska’s offense will get slowed down by MSU’s incredible defense, and I think (and hope) MSU’s offense can do just enough to sweeten that Outback Bowl bid.

Michigan 35, Indiana 20

Ohio State 28, Maryland 20

Penn State 42, Rutgers “A morale touchdown”

Northwestern 27, Minnesota 25

Iowa 28, Illinois -3

Purdue 27, Wisconsin 24 (OT)

Kyle Thele

Michigan State 27, Nebraska 23

Nebraska is playing its best football right now. While that may not be saying much considering how they played at the start of the year, this looks like a team that can hang with anyone. Fortunately, the Spartans defense is still dominant. I expect the offense (no matter who is at quarterback) will be able to score enough with short fields to build a strong lead. A late score will make it look tighter than the game felt, but that’s the story of the season.

Michigan 35 - Indiana 10

Ohio State 42 - Maryland 7

Penn State 31 - Rutgers 14

Minnesota 20 - Northwestern 17

Iowa 34 - Illinois 10

Purdue 30 - Wisconsin 17

Ryan O’Bleness

Michigan State 27, Nebraska 20

Nebraska has played Michigan State tough throughout the years, so I would expect another closely-contested game. I know Nebraska has a high-powered offense that MSU’s offense cannot match in a shootout, but the Spartans defense is known to hold teams well below their usual scoring and rushing averages, so that will not need to be the case. Plus Nebraska’s defense is horrid anyway, so points will be easier to come by this week. I do think that Brian Lewerke needs to be shut down until at least the bowl game, so hopefully we see Rocky Lombardi under center, and if so, he’s able to play more like the Purdue game version than the Ohio State game version. At the end of the day, Nebraska was a team that started 0-6, and its best win is against Minnesota. The talent gap between the two teams should prove enough for Michigan State to earn a road victory, but crazier things have happened.

Indiana at Michigan

Ohio State at Maryland

Penn State at Rutgers

Northwestern at Minnesota

Iowa at Illinois

Wisconsin at Purdue

Zach Manning

Michigan State 20, Nebraska 17

The Spartans’ offense has been so bad this season, and I don’t trust them to score many points against Nebraska. I don’t care who is under center. MSU can’t move the ball consistently, and that will lead to some good field position for the Cornhuskers. Like usual, the defense will have to help the Spartans stay in the game, but I think the offense gets a late score to steal a road win. It’s not going to be pretty, but MSU will get the job done.

Indiana at Michigan

Ohio State at Maryland

Penn State at Rutgers

Northwestern at Minnesota

Iowa at Illinois

Wisconsin at Purdue

David Harns

Michigan State 31, Nebraska 20

Now I know why KJ stopped making picks on here. It’s maddening. I’m doing a re-run of last week’s prediction because I can’t be that horribly wrong two weeks in a row. Or can I?

Indiana at Michigan

Ohio State at Maryland

Penn State at Rutgers

Northwestern at Minnesota

Iowa at Illinois

Wisconsin at Purdue

McLain Moberg

Nebraska 24, Michigan State 13

We all know Nebraska is bad, but I just wanna say it’s clear the Huskers have improved and they’ve gained 450+ yards of offense in their last seven games. Even more, they rank 13th nationally for total offense. For comparison Michigan is ranked 53rd, MSU is ranked 110th, and Ohio State is ranked 8th. My worries center around the matchup I essentially mentioned. MSU is so bad offensively that in the fourth quarter when the defense has been on the field for a century, their back is going to give out and we’ll see the Huskers in victory formation not long afterwards.

Indiana at Michigan

Ohio State at Maryland

Penn State at Rutgers

Northwestern at Minnesota

Iowa at Illinois

Wisconsin at Purdue