Week 4 B1G Preview


Week 4
Date Time Visiting Team Home Team Site TV
September 20 12:00 Iowa Pittsburg Pittsburg, PA ESPNU
September 20 12:00 Bowling Green #19 Wisconsin Madison, WI ESPN2
September 20 12:00 Eastern Michigan #11 Michigan State East Lansing, MI BTN
September 20 12:00 Southern Illinois Purdue West Lafayette, IN BTN
September 20 12:00 Western Illinois Northwestern Evanston, IL ESPNEWS
September 20 12:30 Maryland Syracuse Syracuse, NY ACC Network
September 20 3:30 Rutgers Navy Annapolis, MD CBSSN
September 20 3:30 Utah Michigan Ann Arbor, MI ABC/ESPN2
September 20 4:00 Indiana Missouri Columbia, MO SEC Network
September 20 4:00 UMass Penn State University Park, PA BTN
September 20 4:00 San Jose State Minnesota Minneapolis, MN BTN
September 20 4:00 Texas State Illinois Champaign, IL ESPNEWS
September 20 8:00 Miami (YTM) #24 Nebraska Lincoln, NE ESPN2
Bye: Ohio State
All times eastern. Rankings based on AP poll. My picks in bold.

My Picks
Week 3: 7-3
Overall: 29-8

Upset Alert
Not that it could actually happen, but its worth noting that Bowling Green hung with and eventually beat Indiana last week at Doyt L. Perry Stadium in Bowling Green, OH. That's a far cry from 80,000+ Badger fans inside Camp Randall Stadium, but I'd be remised if I didn't at least mention it.

Other than that, I'm not seeing any big upsets this week in the league. I mean sure, Northwestern, Illinois, Purdue, Minnesota could all stub their toes, but hardly any of those potential losses would be classified as a true upset. That said, Michigan, Nebraska, Iowa, Maryland, Rutgers are all playing good opponents…so no "upset" threat there.

Now, Eastern Michigan over Michigan State…that would be an upset.

Snoozer of the Week
I don't think anyone cares at all about Texas State at Illinois.

Lead Pipe Lock of the Week
Iowa continues their slide into further oblivion with another loss, this one to Pitt.

Biggest Game
Couple big ones this week. Obviously, Michigan vs Utah will be required viewing for the 3:30 timeslot. At 12:30 Maryland takes on Syracuse in a potential statement game for the Terps coming off a tough loss to WVU last weekend. And of course the night cap on ESPN2, Miami (YTM) at Nebraska. All 3 games could help the Big Ten save some face in what has been a rough start in terms of national perception.

Bold Predictions
I'm taking every B1G team except Iowa this week. I don't really know why. Maybe my inner Jim Delany (thats scary) is telling me that this whole thing is about to turn around big time!

Or, maybe I'm just delusional.

I'd like to think in the bigger games of the week (Michigan vs Utah, Maryland vs Syracuse, Miami (YTM) vs Nebraska) the league will start to show some fight. I'd like to be right about that.

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