Japanese Michigan vs. Illinois prediction: Take the underdog

You don’t at all times need to use polls or rankings in your handicapping, however typically they are often telling.

Japanese Michigan, a middle-of-the-road workforce within the Mid-American Convention, is coming off a 38-17 loss to the SEC’s Kentucky by which quarterback Mike Glass threw for 337 yards. That’s actually nothing to be embarrassed about as Kentucky is ranked No. 34 within the nation by the revered Sagarin Scores.

Illinois, anticipated to be among the many worst the Massive Ten has to supply, is 2-Zero on the younger season, struggled to beat lowly regarded Connecticut 31-23 final week, failing to cowl as a 20-point favourite. UConn is No. 139 within the Sagarin Scores, which is fairly dangerous when you think about there are solely 130 Division I-A (FBS) packages. There are 24 FCS groups ranked forward of the Huskies.

Illinois is No. 86 whereas EMU is No. 93 with only a 2.5-point distinction. Illinois doesn’t have a lot of a home-field benefit, so I don’t see how this line needs to be a full landing or larger. And EMU is taking a step down at school whereas Illinois is taking a step up.

The play: Japanese Michigan, +7.