It’s a crime that the Wisconsin Badgers and Michigan State Spartans haven’t opposed one another on the college gridiron since 2012, but come this Saturday, the rivalry will be forced to write yet another chapter after leaving its audience in suspense the last three years. This is the first of a hellacious two game roady for the Badgers who have to go to the Big House next week. Off a dominant performance last week, Sparty will look to get Wiscy’s road trip started off on the wrong foot.
Watch this regular season Week 4 matchup live on Saturday, September 24, 2016, at 12 p.m. ET at Spartan Stadium.
College Football Odds at BookMaker.eu
Wisconsin +5.5
Michigan State -5.5
Over/Under 52.5
Odds Analysis
Early action is riding Paul Chryst’s squad with the Badgers falling from 6 point underdogs to +5.5 once the line opened early Monday morning. Interesting move to say the least with Mark Dantonio proving every passing season that he’s one of the best coaches in the country, and the fact that Sparty just went into South Bend and administered a death blow before letting the Irish back into the game late. Over 86 percent of the tickets are backing the Spartans, so there must have been a large position taken on the Badgers to move the line down a half point.
The total between these teams the last time they played closed at 40. The game went into overtime and still failed to surpass the number. Linemakers opened this one at 45 but the betting public had none of that quickly betting it down to 43 with 80 percent riding the under.
Injury Report
Corey Clement – Wiscy’s RB1 sat out last week’s game against Georgia State with an ankle injury. In his stead, Dare Ogunbowale and Bradrick Shaw combined for 127 yards and one touchdown while averaging just over 3.6 yards per carry. That output came against a Panthers team ranked No. 128 in the country in rushing defense. MSU just limited Notre Dame to 57 rushing yards on 25 carries, a 2.5 YPC average. Clement’s services will be sorely needed. If he misses, look for Sparty to load the box and dare Wiscy to beat them through the air.
Player to Watch
The Badgers might have a quarterback dilemma to deal with after Chryst benched Bart Houston in favor of redshirt frosh Alex Hornibrook last week. Houston went 10-of-18 with no touchdowns before getting yanked allowing Hornibrook to steal his thunder with a 122 yard and one touchdown effort.
While MSU has once again proven to be a beast against the run, its pass defense looked awfully porous last week in allowing Notre Dame to get back into the game. It allowed DeShone Kizer to pass for 344 yards and a pair of touchdowns. With the Spartans dead set on stuffing the run per usual, Wisconsin must get something from under center regardless of which quarterback gets the starting nod. If not, it’ll be close to impossible to end its losing streak in East Lansing at four straight.
Free ATS Pick
Wisconsin doesn’t have the weaponry to take advantage of MSU’s defensive Achilles heel. The Badgers have the tough nosed run defense to at the very least keep Gerald Holmes and LJ Scott from running wild. In this day and age, it almost comes off as asinine to recommend playing a total under this number, but that’s exactly what I’m going to do.
This has defensive battle written all over it, and with each squad looking to avoid their first defeat, I expect both defenses to rise to the occasion and set the tone immediately. Combined, the under is 15-6 in these team’s last 21 games. Don’t look for the scoreboard operators to be busy in this one.
College Football Odds: Michigan State 20, Wisconsin 13
BookMaker offers play-by-play betting odds for live sporting events every day! The user-friendly wagering interface on your smartphone provides an easy way to place bets on the go. Mobile betting lines are updated by the minute, so click here to start gambling on thrilling live action at BookMaker Sportsbook!
