CFB:, Big Ten Week 3 Preview
Just like that, week three of college football is upon us and it feels like we are fast-forwarding through the season. While week three doesn’t feature many conference games between Big Ten opponents, there are plenty of matchups that will have an impact on the national scale. Let’s take a look at the best game this week and try and predict how the games will turn out. Here we go.
Maryland at Illinois
Maryland is trending up after beating West Virginia and Howard, while Illinois started the year off well in week zero with an upset against Nebraska but has gone downhill since. Maryland, while not necessarily high on the national scale, has an offense that is a threat to every defense they face. The playmakers that they have on the outside are legit NFL talent. I fail to see Illinois’ defense locking up Rakim Jarrett and Dontay Demus as Taulia Tagovailoa has looked good to start the year. I think that Illinois keeps in close in the first quarter and early second but Maryland will pull away towards halftime.
Prediction: Maryland 38 Illinois 21
Update: Maryland Won 20-17
Cincinatti at Indiana
This game is intriguing and has implications for both teams. With this win, Cincinnati looks to silence the narrative and prove that they can compete with power five conferences. Indiana looked back to normal last year in a dominant performance against Idaho, however, they were supposed to do that. Indiana was humiliated by Iowa 34-6 to start the year and they need to show up and beat Cincinnati to prove their worth again. Michael Penix Jr. has not been the quarterback we saw in 2020, his stats are way down and it may be due to his knee injury from last season. Although this game is home for Indiana, I think the Bearcats go into Bloomington and show how good they truly are as Desmond Ridder looks to boost his national stock.
Prediction: Cincinnati 35 Indiana 28
Michigan State at Miami
One of the more surprising narratives this year has been the emergence of Michigan State and how dynamic they look on offense. Payton Thorne has looked like a sufficient quarterback that can lead this team to some big victories, he has five touchdowns in two games. The Spartans running game has been led by Kenneth Walker III who has five touchdowns on the year. In week three, they face a Miami team that has looked unimpressive to start the year. If the Spartans get enough offense production, they can go into Hard Rock Stadium and pull off this upset.
Prediction: Michigan State 28 Miami 24
Auburn at Penn State
This is the matchup of the weekend. The ESPN crew will be in Happy Valley for this game and it is Penn State’s traditional “white-out”. This game is insane for any opposition, teams have mentioned that this is the hardest environment to play in all of college football and this year’s Nittany Lions team is out of revenge after a disappointing 2020. Penn State’s defense has been lights out, they have playmakers everywhere. Auburn has played two lesser teams in Akron and Alabama State and has handled them with ease. Now they have to go to Penn State, in that environment, and I think it is too much for Bo Nix to handle.
Penn State 31 Auburn 27
References: https://www.espn.com/college-football/team/stats/_/id/127
Writer
-By: Justin Howard