{"id":18303,"date":"2011-10-05T15:30:45","date_gmt":"2011-10-05T20:30:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=18303"},"modified":"2011-10-05T15:30:45","modified_gmt":"2011-10-05T20:30:45","slug":"big-ten-conference-predictions-michigan-wolverines-at-northwestern-wildcats","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/big-ten-conference-predictions-michigan-wolverines-at-northwestern-wildcats-18303\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Ten Conference Predictions: Michigan Wolverines at Northwestern Wildcats"},"content":{"rendered":"

No. 12 Michigan Wolverines at Northwestern Wildcats
\nSaturday, 10\/8\/11, 7:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 Big Ten Network
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Michigan -10
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Michigan -7.5
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 60
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 59
\nOdds Courtesy of Bookmaker<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Michigan Wolverines travel on the road for the first time this season in facing the Northwestern Wildcats<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Michigan is 5-0 on the season and will make its first trip outside of Ann Arbor this weekend when taking on Northwestern.\u00a0 The Wolverines are coming off a 58-0 win over the Minnesota Gophers as 21-point home favorites.\u00a0 Expectations are sky high around campus, but the program\u2019s new head coach knows that plenty of obstacles lie ahead.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m interested to see how we react and what we\u2019re made of, our mentality, our mental toughness,\u201d Hoke said.\u00a0 \u201cAnd if we\u2019re business like.\u201d\u00a0 The Wolverines defense is the biggest reason for optimism, as the unit is allowing just 10.2 points per game, which is far below last year\u2019s 35.2 mark.\u00a0 Michigan is 2-15 ATS versus conference opponents.<\/p>\n

The Wolverines have enjoyed tremendous success inside the red zone, scoring on 21-of-22 opportunities, including 17 touchdowns.\u00a0 Michigan offense is averaging 37.2 points and 440.8 yards per game.\u00a0 Heisman Trophy candidate Denard Robinson is leading the charge, leading the conference in rushing, while also playing behind an offensive line that has allowed just two sacks in five games.\u00a0 Turnovers have also played an important role in the team\u2019s dominant beginning, leading the Big Ten with a plus-seven differential.<\/p>\n

Northwestern is looking to bounce back from consecutive losses, including a 38-35 defeat to the Illinois Fighting Illini as 9.5-point road underdogs.\u00a0 The Wildcats were unable to hold an 18-point lead, as quarterback Dan Persa left the game in the fourth quarter due to his Achilles acting up.\u00a0 \u201cI felt pain at the bottom of my right heel and then the top of my Achilles\u2019 started to stiffen up,\u201d commented Persa after the game.\u00a0 \u201cI\u2019m sure it\u2019ll be fine.\u201d\u00a0 It\u2019s a definite factor in this game due to him missing the first three games of the season.\u00a0 Northwestern is 3-9 ATS at home the past two-plus seasons.<\/p>\n

The Wildcats have also caused opponents to turn the ball over, ranking second in the conference with a plus-five differential.\u00a0 Northwestern is going to have trouble defending against Robinson\u2019s dual-threat ability, as the unit has allowed 414 yards per game, including 174.8 on the ground.\u00a0 From a roster standpoint, seven players have made their first career start on this side of the ball already this year.\u00a0 The team will be hard-pressed to continue piling up sacks due to the earlier stat mentioned about Michigan\u2019s offensive line, but the group does rank 31st nationally with 2.5 sacks a contest.<\/p>\n

Bettors will likely back the Wildcats due to their 9-3 ATS mark as a home underdog of 3.5 to 10 points, while the Wolverines are 0-5 ATS on the road.<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t miss out on a winning season and let the college football handicappers at Maddux Sports line your pockets with cash.\u00a0 Long term packages are available now!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

No. 12 Michigan Wolverines at Northwestern Wildcats Saturday, 10\/8\/11, 7:00 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 Big Ten Network Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Michigan -10 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Michigan -7.5 Opening Total:\u00a0 60 Current Total:\u00a0 59 Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker Michigan is 5-0 on the season and will make its first trip outside of Ann Arbor this weekend when […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":7144,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[200,1444],"tags":[3442,3445,3314,468,3119],"class_list":["post-18303","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-football","category-headlines","tag-big-ten-conference","tag-dan-persa","tag-denard-robinson","tag-michigan-wolverines","tag-northwestern-wildcats"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18303","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/181"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18303"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18303\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18304,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18303\/revisions\/18304"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7144"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18303"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18303"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18303"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}