Last week against the spread: 2-1
Pick of the week: 0-1
Last week straight up: 2-3
YTD against the spread: 10-2
YTD Pick of the week: 3-1
YTD straight up: 12-7
I try never to pick against home teams that are over ten point underdogs. That's really the only rule I try to follow when I pick against the spread. But last week I not only picked Iowa (-11) over Illinois in Champaign, I made it my pick of the week. It ended it being my only loss against the spread as I finished 2-1 for the second week in a row. The football gods were in an especially foul mood as the Illini ended up beating the spread by scoring a touchdown with under a minute left. Final score 23-13.
This week I see three more games that have nice spreads. The first is Wisconsin (-6.5) over Minnesota in Madison. Minnesota has proven they can score but have not proven they can win on the road. They have lost on the road to Michigan, MSU and Indiana (yikes!). I have hard time imagining them staying close to the Badgers coming off a bye week.
I'll also take Nortwestern (+3.5) over Penn State. How in the world is Penn State the favorite? This team is about to hit bottom. This is my pick of the week.
I'll also take Michigan State over Ohio State in East Lansing. Ohio State beats two bad teams at home and all of the sudden they can hang with a good team on the road? I don't think so. Take the Spartans (-1.5), even with the loss of Stanton at QB.
The rest straight-up: Illinois over Indiana, Purdue over Iowa.