{"id":19288,"date":"2011-11-10T20:37:00","date_gmt":"2011-11-11T01:37:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/?p=19288"},"modified":"2011-11-10T20:37:00","modified_gmt":"2011-11-11T01:37:00","slug":"college-football-predictions-week-11-michigan-wolverines-vs-illinois-fighting-illini","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/college-football-predictions-week-11-michigan-wolverines-vs-illinois-fighting-illini-19288\/","title":{"rendered":"College Football Predictions Week 11: Michigan Wolverines vs. Illinois Fighting Illini"},"content":{"rendered":"

No. 24 Michigan Wolverines at Illinois Fighting Illini
\nSaturday, 11\/12\/11, 3:30 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 ESPN
\nOpening Point Spread:\u00a0 Michigan -1.5
\nCurrent Betting Line:\u00a0 Michigan PK
\nOpening Total:\u00a0 48
\nCurrent Total:\u00a0 49.5
\nOdds Courtesy of Bookmaker<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Michigan Wolverines QB Denard Robinson is ninth in school history in passing and rushing yards<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Michigan has now lost two of three games after last week\u2019s 24-16 loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes as 3.5-point road favorites, but the team has still out-gained seven of its nine opponents.\u00a0 The Wolverines still believe they have a shot at reaching the Big Ten championship game despite the two defeats.\u00a0 \u201cI don\u2019t think anybody can tell your what\u2019s going to happen a minute from now, let along four weeks from now,\u201d stated Wolverines first-year head coach Brady Hoke.\u00a0 The program ranks second in point differential in Big Ten play, while allowing the second-fewest points.\u00a0 Michigan is 4-17 ATS versus conference opponents the last two-plus years.<\/p>\n

The Wolverines will be playing the Fighting Illini for the 93rd time, bringing in a 67-23-2 record, including a 40-6-2 mark in the last 48 meetings.\u00a0 Michigan has caused 20 turnovers this year, ranking second in conference and 17th nationally in that department.\u00a0 Offensively, led by quarterback Denard Robinson, the Wolverines have totaled 500-plus years in three of five Big Ten games.\u00a0 The junior signal-caller ranks ninth in school history in passing yards and rushing yards.<\/p>\n

Illinois will be looking to snap a three-game losing streak with the offense managing to score just 28 combined points in those contests.\u00a0 The Fighting Illini are coming off a bye week, posting an 11-16 mark in that situation in the modern era.\u00a0 Much of the discussion surrounding this game is centered around last year\u2019s 67-65 meeting, as the program eventually fell as three-point road underdogs.\u00a0 The 132 combined points were the most in conference history.\u00a0 \u201cAnytime you have a battle like that, it\u2019s tough to come out on the wrong end,\u201d commented Fighting Illini quarterback Nathan Scheelhaase.\u00a0 Illinois is 8-4 ATS as an underdog the last two-plus years.<\/p>\n

The Fighting Illini bring in a defense that ranks sixth nationally in allowing just 280.1 yards per game, while continuing to lead all teams in the Big Ten in sacks and tackles for loss.\u00a0 Scheelhaase has enjoyed a solid campaign in ranking 25th among college football quarterbacks in pass efficiency.\u00a0 He leads the Big Ten in total offense, just ahead of Robinson.\u00a0 In the Ron Zook era, the Illini are 4-19 against ranked teams.<\/p>\n

Bettors will likely back the Wolverines due to their 5-2 ATS mark on field turf, while the Fighting Illini are 2-5 ATS when playing at home.<\/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. 24 Michigan Wolverines at Illinois Fighting Illini Saturday, 11\/12\/11, 3:30 PM EST, TV:\u00a0 ESPN Opening Point Spread:\u00a0 Michigan -1.5 Current Betting Line:\u00a0 Michigan PK Opening Total:\u00a0 48 Current Total:\u00a0 49.5 Odds Courtesy of Bookmaker Michigan has now lost two of three games after last week\u2019s 24-16 loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes as 3.5-point road […]<\/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":[3442,4217,3314,697,468,5168,4271],"class_list":["post-19288","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-college-football","category-headlines","tag-big-ten-conference","tag-brady-hoke","tag-denard-robinson","tag-illinois-fighting-illini","tag-michigan-wolverines","tag-nathan-scheelhaase","tag-ron-zook"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19288","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=19288"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19288\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19289,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19288\/revisions\/19289"}],"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=19288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.madduxsports.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}