Northwestern at No. 4 Iowa (noon ET, ESPN) - Northwestern is banged up, Iowa plays down to the level of its opponents for the first three quarters. I've got a close one, but this NU team is not quite as 'cardiac' as previous year's Cats.
Iowa 34, Northwestern 26
No. 21 Wisconsin at Indiana - Indiana has a solid defense but Wisco's ground-pounding gameplan will wear out the Hoosiers. Can Canada's Air Assault* (*not available in 2nd half) keep up? I doubt it.
Wisconsin 28, Indiana 13
Purdue at Michigan - Michigan has fallen apart, Purdue has occasionally looked like world beaters when they don't look like an average MAC team. Interestingly, both looked pretty good against Notre Dame. Big Blue has more firepower and is smarting coming off that Illinois loss. How good of a coach is Rich Rodriguez? This will be a week to find out.
Michigan 38, Purdue 21
Illinois at Minnesota - Even without Eric Decker, Minnesota has too much ammo - and a bowl game at stake - for the Fighting Illini to handle up in Gopherland.
Minnesota 44, Illinois 17
Western Michigan at Michigan State - State lost to Michigan Directional earlier this year in CMU. They won't do it again.
Michigan State 52, WMU 24
No. 16 Ohio State at No. 11 Penn State (3:30 PM, ABC) - The showcase game of the week features the conference's pair of grand dames trying to keep up with Iowa and guarantee themselves a BCS payday. Terrelle Pryor is better than Daryll Clark, but Penn State owns the slightly better
defense, are playing at home, and need the win since they don't control their own destiny, having already lost to the Hawkeyes.Also, they have JoePa. Advantage, Happy Valley.
Penn State 23, Ohio State 20
On to the NFL: Six teams are on their bye, including NFC North leader Minnesota, the enigmatic Jets, and four of the league's worst in Buffalo, Cleveland, Oakland, and St. Louis. That leaves 13 games. In ascending order of importance:
Kansas City at Jacksonville - The Jags can't fill up their stadium, but Todd Haley is not a head coach. However, Jacksonville has a functioning offense and will win this one 28-10.
Detroit at Seattle - The Lions' loss to the Rams last week dumped them right back into the 'worst team' conversation after a brief reprieve. Seattle is playing uninspired ball, as one would expect from a team featuring Julius Jones. Seattle 33-16.
Green Bay at Tampa Bay - A few years ago, this used to be a divisional battle, played out twice a year and featuring Warren Sapp and Brett Favre. Now it's just Aaron Rodgers' turn to take out his frustration on a really awful team. Green Bay 31-7.
Washington at Atlanta - After losing to New Orleans and surrendering their best shot at catching up in-division, Atlanta gets a gimme at home. I've picked Washington before, and it never ends well. Falcons win, 35-23.
Tennessee at San Francisco - Vince Young and Alex Smith get the starts for their respective clubs, and it comes down to who needs the win more. The Niners do, as Arizona is still catchable in the NFC West. San Fran 17-14.San Diego at New York Giants - I just don't think this year's Chargers are good at all. And the Giants are due for a bounce-back, so why not here, with Eli feeling the pressure to perform? Giants 38-30.
Carolina at New Orleans - The Panthers are running well again, but you need to have all three phases clicking to have a shot at the Saints this year. Flying Breeses 45-27.
Arizona at DAAAAA BEARS - Two teams with winning records and still very little sense of whether they are contenders or pretenders. I gotta go Bears here, because the Cardinals don't have much of a running attack and the Chicago defense used Cleveland to hone their ball-stealing instincts once again. The last time these teams played, Devin Hester had The Game and it turned out that the Bears "are who we THOUGHT they are!" so history points to awesomeness. Chicago 24-21.
Houston at Indianapolis - Indy showed some chinks in the armor last week against San Fran, and these two teams know each other well. It's hard to bet against Peyton, but I think I'll take Houston in the upset here. 27-24.
Miami at New England - The 'Fins are competitive, but Belichik and Brady coming off a bye week are not to be trifled with. Still, Ronnie Brown and Ricky Williams will get theirs. This should be a fun one. New England 31-30.
Dallas at Philadelphia - Both teams are flying high and rounding into midseason form. Both smell blood with the Giants struggling in their division. Who can take advantage? How about Philly at home, by a score of 30-24?
Baltimore at Cincinnati - Last time these teams met, it was a thriller with Cincy emerging on top. This time I think the tables get turned and the Ravens squeak by on the road. 24-21.
MONDAY NIGHT. Pittsburgh at Denver - Denver looked mortal last week against Baltimore, and Pitt is a quality team. This is a tough one to call, but I'm going to ride Kyle Orton like a drunken sorostitute. Denver 20-17.
Your picks for the week? Post below, please!
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I'll take the Kyle Orton and the Over on 7 shots of Jack after Monday nights game.
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