November 13 Picks Part 1

Top Picks

Iowa -9.5 vs NU

Leans

Notre Dame +5.5

Ohio St -18 vs Penn St.

Syracuse/Rutgers under 41

Writeups

The public jumped right away on the 12.5 and moved the line down to 9.5 or so. I am not a believer that NU has the Hawkeye’s number and like the Hawkeyes to handle this pretty easily. The big difference in this game is the dominance that Iowa has on both lines. Looking at NU’s 3 losses, they were not able to get pressure on the opposing teams QB nor run the ball effectively. Iowa by far will be the best offensive and defensive lines that NU has faced this year. Home dogs can often represent a good value but not in this one. Lay the wood.

Notre Dame +5.5 vs Utah-  Looking back at the preseason publications, this game shaped up to be a big one. Well the reality is that ND has been underwhelming to say the least and the buzz around the hiring of Brian Kelly has gone south. However in this case, the lack of expectations should help the Irish. Usually when a team comes to South Bend, there is a sense of a big game. However, Utah lost their place among the big boys last week, add that to the fact that ND is down in the dumps and it is difficult to imagine Utes getting up for this one.

I expect Brian Kelly to have his team focused and will not be surprised if the Irish get the win but will certainly cover.

Syracuse/Rutgers- I don’t expect to see a lot of offense in this one. Both coaches are defensive oriented and neither teams offense is overly explosive. I am not sure who will be victorious however I do imagine that the winner will hold the losing to team to single digits.

Ohio St- I had to chuckle when I saw the Nittany Lions talking about being upset about being big underdogs. Well  it would help their cause if they actually went on the road and beat someone decent which we have not seen yet.  They have played better lately but that was to inferior teams at home. The buckeyes are playing to solidify a BCS spot and have fallen a bit out of the public conscious lately. A big win and cover here gets them back in the mix.