| Admittedly it's not a great week, but this game should be sneaky fun. Now don't get me wrong, not fun from an enjoyment standpoint. This is a sickos only watch. But fun in the sense that the winner still feels good about their chances in the West. Particularly Illinois which would already own wins over perennially the two strongest division rivals (Iowa and Wisconsin). It would also make it increasingly likely (particularly if Purdue wins too), that for the second consecutive year we'll get a first time Conference Championship Game representative, with Illinois, Minnesota and Purdue seemingly in the drivers' seat for that West bid. I'm curious to see if Iowa continues to open it up a little bit more. Granted Michigan was already well in control at that point, and why it took being down three scores to get there is beyond anyone but the walking epitome of nepotism, but Spencer Petras actually looked pretty good once Iowa opened up the playbook last week. They should consider looking to that much sooner this week, against an Illinois defense which has been elite against the run. They lead the conference in every run defense category (ypg, ypc, TD), as well as top 5 nationally, and in their two Big Ten games (one of which was Wisconsin, the stats are even more absurd. They have allowed just 17 rushing yards per game, on 0.7 ypc. Iowa's run offense is worst in the conference at 2.8 ypc. They are also last in rushing yards per game. So maybe open it up Brian. Illinois has had no such issues, with Chase Brown leading the nation with 733 yards. Bret Bielema, to nobody's surprise, is leaning heavily on the run game, running the ball 57.5% of the time, behind only Minnesota and Michigan, with Brown also 2nd in the nation in rush attempts. Tommy DeVito isn't asked to do a lot, but he's efficient in what he is asked to do. He's 4th in the Big Ten at 69.9% completions (and two of the three ahead of him have gotten to play Michigan State's secondary), while ranking #2 in touchdowns (behind Stroud) and #2 in fewest interceptions (behind McCarthy). I have Illinois by 8 before, but while writing this up, I sort of wonder if the only reason I have it this close is due to the helmet they are wearing. |