The Michigan State Spartans managed to clinch another important victory in a 17-7 win over the Maryland Terrapins last weekend. While it wasn’t pretty by any means, it was another key step towards reaching nine wins. The Spartans will have the opportunity to reach that goal this Saturday when they visit the Rutgers Scarlet Knights.
Rutgers is coming off back-to-back road losses to the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Indiana Hoosiers over its last two weeks. They have given up at least 35 points in each of their last four losses. The only two teams they held under that number were Purdue and Illinois – two of the worst teams in the Big Ten. Against anyone respectable, they have been punished time after time.
Michigan State will be a 13.5-point favorite on the road against the Scarlet Knights on Saturday afternoon. Sparty will very likely win this game but the question becomes will they cover? It’s a big line for a Spartans team that has lost two straight away games and hasn’t won by more than four points in any away contest.
Details
Odds: Michigan State -13.5
Date & Time: Saturday November 25th, 2017 – ??? PM ET
Location: High Point Solutions Stadium, Piscataway, New Jersey
Broadcast: FOX
Reasons To Bet On The Michigan State Spartans
It wasn’t a pretty victory by any means but the Spartans managed to get the job done in the snow versus Maryland last week. Junior running back L.J. Scott led the way for Michigan State as he averaged 5.1 yards per carry while rushing for 147 yards and a touchdown against the Terrapins. Scott is up to 731 yards and six touchdowns on the season and will be leaned on heavily again this week. Even if the Spartans are able to establish the run early on they will need more from the quarterback position if they are going to win this week. Sophomore quarterback Brian Lewerke completed just 2-of-14 pass attempts for 20 yards versus Maryland. Lewerke absolutely has to be better than that if Michigan State is going to wrap up the year with a victory. The Spartans defence has been solid for the most part in their wins so far this year. They will be leaned on to keep a Rutgers offense that has averaged 23.4 points per game this season in check on Saturday.
Reasons To Bet On The Rutgers Scarlet Knights
The Scarlet Knights can’t be completely overlooked after registering some notable Big Ten victories this season. However, Rutgers is coming off back-to-back losses to Penn State and Indiana and it won’t get any easier for them this week. The offense looked like an absolute mess in last week’s 41-0 loss to the Hoosiers. The Scarlet Knights were outgained in total yards 503-186 and quarterback Giovanni Rescigno was sacked four times before he was pulled in the third quarter. It will be interesting to see whether Rutgers turns back to Rescigno in this game or if they stick with Johnathan Lewis after he didn’t fare much better in relief against Indiana. The Scarlet Knights have shown their ability to perform at a decent level on offense at times throughout the year but their lack of consistency has been a major sore spot over the past couple of weeks.
Outlook
We saw the Michigan State Spartans open up in this spot at -11 but the line has continued to creep up. At last check, the Spartans were all the way up to -13.5. As far as the total is concerned, we saw it open up at 40 and that’s where it currently sits right now.
While the spread seems a little high for a Spartans team that is travelling following a pretty brutal offensive performance last week, the reality is that Michigan State should be very capable of covering in this game. Rutgers has already lost by 20 points or more on four different occasions this season. If the Spartans can get better play at the quarterback position this week then they should be able to win and cover on the road to reach nine wins.
Pick: Michigan State -13.5
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