College Football: Northwestern vs Illinois
Northwestern WIldcats (6-4 SU, 3-6 ATS) at Illinois Fighting Illini (3-6 SU, 3-5 ATS)
Saturday, November 14 – Noon ET
College Football Sportsbook Odds: ILLINOIS -4, Total 48.5
Here are some of the NCAA college football betting trends as they relate to this matchup:
NW has covered three of its last nine games
NW has won four of its last six games SU
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NW has played four of its last six games UNDER the total
NW has covered six of its last seven road games
NW has played nine of its last ten road games UNDER the total
ILL has lost nine of its last 12 games SU
ILL has played four of its last five games UNDER the total
ILL has lost four of its last six home games SU
Also….
NW has covered seven of the last nine meetings
NW has won five of the last six meetings SU
Four of the last five meetings have gone UNDER the total 
It sure was one of the great days for Northwestern football last Saturday, as the Wildcats, despite gaining only 239 yards, chalked up a win over Iowa, the #4 team in the BCS standings, in a game where both starting quarterbacks got hurt. Iowa lost its starter, Ricky Stanzi, for the season and had to turn to a freshman named James Vadenberg, who threw a key interception in the game, one of three turnovers for previously undefeated Iowa on the day.
Mike Kafka has not necessarily undergone a metamorphosis but he is the unquestioned leader for this team on the field. Last week he passed for 72 yards, but then had to leave the game with a hamstring injury. His backup, Dan Persa, also got hurt. Neither one of these guys is going to be 100% on Saturday.
Meanwhile, Illinois can actually get bowl-eligible if the Illini can win this weekend and beat Cincinnati and Fresno State. Yeah, that’s all a very tall task, but with consecutive wins over Michigan and Minnesota, there is little question that Ron Zook’s team is starting to get the hang of it.
Maybe some of the best news is that Illinois hasn’t needed monster games out of talented receiver Aurrelious Benn to win those games. A team that hadn’t scored more than 17 points in a game against Division I competition has all of sudden hit for 38 and 35 in the last two contests.
Juice Williams hasn’t been in on all of this; he has an ankle injury that may be slowing him down, though Zook says that he is “coming along fast” and should be able to play this weekend. It’s not bad for the Illini, though, that they got some inspired play out of freshman Jacob Charest, at least against Minnesota. Between Jason Ford and Mikel Leshoure, they’ve been able to move it on the ground enough to compensate for passing figures that have not been awe-inspiring.
What we’re trying to say is that things appear to be on the upswing for Illinois, a team talented enough to be considered a possible Big Ten title contender at the season’s outset. At the same time, it may take a while for Northwestern to recover from that win over Iowa, which was major. Illinois seeks some revenge for last year’s 27-10 loss.
Let’s go with the Illini, the four-point favorite in the BetUS college football betting odds.
OUR PLAY: ILLINOIS -4 ***
