{"id":18553,"date":"2011-10-13T12:58:24","date_gmt":"2011-10-13T17:58:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=18553"},"modified":"2011-10-13T12:58:24","modified_gmt":"2011-10-13T17:58:24","slug":"big-ten-football-picks-ohio-state-buckeyes-vs-illinois-fighting-illini","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/big-ten-football-picks-ohio-state-buckeyes-vs-illinois-fighting-illini-18553\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Ten Football Picks: Ohio State Buckeyes vs. Illinois Fighting Illini"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ohio State Buckeyes at No. 16 Illinois Fighting Illini
\nSaturday, 10\/15\/11, 3:30 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 ABC
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Illinois -6
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Illinois -3.5
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 44
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 44
\nOdds Courtesy of Bookmaker<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Ohio State Buckeyes will look to avoid an 0-3 start in Big Ten play<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Ohio State enters Saturday with an 0-2 Big Ten record for the first time since 1993, losing back-to-back games for the first time in 88 games, which snapped the longest such streak in the nation.\u00a0 The Buckeyes are coming off a 34-27 loss to the Nebraska Cornhuskers as 10-point road underdogs, giving up a season-high 423 yards of total offense.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019ve got to get a few stops on defense,\u201d commented Buckeyes coach Luke Fickell.\u00a0 \u201cThat\u2019s what it comes down to.\u201d\u00a0 Ohio State is 23-8 ATS over the last two-plus years and the \u2018under\u2019 is 17-13 in that situation.<\/p>\n

The Buckeyes do possess a solid backfield with Jordan Hall and Carlos Hyde combining for 132.9 yards per game.\u00a0 Ohio State is also eagerly anticipating the season debut of Dan Herron, who had been suspended for all games prior to this weekend.\u00a0 He rushed for 1,555 yards and 16 touchdowns a year ago.\u00a0 Freshman quarterback Braxton Miler is also expected to play, connecting on 5 of 8 passes for a touchdown before leaving last week\u2019s game in the third quarter with an ankle injury.<\/p>\n

Illinois returns to Memorial Stadium with a perfect 6-0 record and coming off a 41-20 win over Indiana as 14-point road favorites.\u00a0 The Fighting Illini have actually won seven games in a row when dating back to last season under head coach Ron Zook.\u00a0 \u201cWe\u2019re a good team,\u201d commented Zook.\u00a0 \u201cBut as I told them to be a great team, we\u2019ve got to do a lot more.\u201d\u00a0 One thing the program has thrived on is creating turnovers, causing at least one in 21 consecutive games, which is the longest current streak in the nation.\u00a0 Illinois is 3-10 ATS as a home favorite of 3.5 to 7 points.<\/p>\n

The Fighting Illini are led offensively by quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase, who ranks fifth in the nation and second in the Big Ten in passing efficiency.\u00a0 He has also thrown 23 touchdowns and just four interceptions over his last 13 games.\u00a0 The main target in the passing game is Biletnikoff Award candidate A.J. Jenkins, who has 18 catches for 450 yards and five touchdowns in the last two games, which is the most receiving yards in a two-game span in the conference\u2019s history.<\/p>\n

Bettors will likely back the Fighting Illini due to their 10-4 ATS mark in conference games, while the Buckeyes are 3-3 ATS on the year.<\/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":"

Ohio State Buckeyes at No. 16 Illinois Fighting Illini Saturday, 10\/15\/11, 3:30 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 ABC Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Illinois -6 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Illinois -3.5 Opening Total:\u00a0 44 Current Total:\u00a0 44 Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker Ohio State enters Saturday with an 0-2 Big Ten record for the first time since 1993, losing back-to-back games […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":181,"featured_media":16550,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[200,1444],"tags":[3442,697,5168,463],"class_list":["post-18553","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-football","category-headlines","tag-big-ten-conference","tag-illinois-fighting-illini","tag-nathan-scheelhaase","tag-ohio-state-buckeyes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18553","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=18553"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18553\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18554,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18553\/revisions\/18554"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16550"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18553"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18553"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18553"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}