Illinois at Rutgers

Opening point spread (according to VegasInsider): Illinois -1.5

Gut reaction:

Rutgers finally showed some signs of life in the second half last week, looking like a halfway decent football program and they’ll look to continue that next Saturday when they take on a very beatable opponent in the Fighting Illini.

Illinois has been able to get into the mid 20’s on the scoreboard in all of their games and I see them scoring around the same amount this week against Rutgers. The question will be whether the Rutgers offense can get to the mid-20’s or 30’s on offense.

I expect this to actually be a very close game between two similar programs. Rutgers looked impressive in their win against Illinois in Champaign last year, winning 35-24. I think both teams will get in the 20’s here and the game will be decided late in the 4th quarter.

If I Were a Betting Man:

I think this game is going to be so close and pretty much a coin-flip so I would rather take the points here and put my money on Rutgers +1.5 here. Hopefully the team can build off of that second half momentum from last Saturday against Indiana.