As the Week 6 of the NCAA Football 2015 Season comes in, we are taking a look at the game between the No. 13 Wildcats of Northwestern 5-0 (2nd Big Ten West) playing at the No. 18 Wolverines of Michigan 4-1 (Big Ten East) with the game being played at the Michigan Stadium in Ann Arbor, Michigan on Saturday the 10th of October 2015 with kick-off scheduled for 3:30 PM ET and seen on the Big Ten Network TV.
The opening odds for those that Bet on College football at SBG sportsbook online, has the Wolverines of Michigan favored at -7 ½ with the Over/under at 35 and -300 on the Money Line, and the Wildcats of Northwestern underdogs at +7 ½ and +250 on the Money Line.
This Big Ten clash between rivals of the East & West Divisions of the Big Ten will put their records on the line when they meet on Saturday. The 2 teams have both been playing some real good football in the last week, most effectively on the defensive side. Don’t be surprised if this does not turn out to be a very tough and bruising game at the Michigan Stadium.
The fans of the undefeated Wildcats of Northwestern, surely you know your team increased their unbeaten record to 5-0 as the beat another Big Ten Rival in Minnesota 27-0. They had a great game and surely convinced the public that they are the No.1 contender to take the Big Ten West Title this 2015 season.
The game against Minnesota was their opening season game with another Big Ten team, and the Wildcats were led by QB C. Thorson who completed 14 of his 19 pass attempts for 129 yards and no intercepts, and rushed on 11 carries for some 24 yards and scored 2 TD’s. RB J. Jackson attributed with 20 carries for 122 yards as Northwestern dominated the running game, out gaining Minnesota 185-75.
What made the difference in this game was the excellent performance by the defense of the Wildcats, as they held the Golden Gophers to just 174 yards and stopped them all 4 of their 4th down attempts, and forced the Gophers to punt 7 times in the game.
The Wildcats defense has been excellent this season as surely their opponents to date will testify, as they all found Minnesota’s defense at tough nut to crack. In the 1st five game for the Wildcats they have only allowed some 3 TD’s and are 1st in College football scoring defense as the only gave up on average 7 points each game to date.
Thus, the game is expected to be a low scoring one since the Wolverines are also known this season for their defensive endeavors. The Wolverines are 2nd in scoring defense with 7.7 points each game allowed. The Wildcats of Northwestern in their ultimate 10 games on the road are with 5 wins and 5 losses straight up.
For the fans of the Wolverines of Michigan your team increased their record to 4 wins this season with their routing of the Terrapins of Maryland last Saturday 28-0. That was a big game for their Coach Harbaugh and the 4-1 record.
As mention earlier, it was the Michigan defense they stood out in that game as they had 3 interceptions and allowed Maryland to only gain a mere 106 total yards in the game. That win made it 2 straight shutout victories for the Wolverines, as they allowed in their last 4 games their opponents a combined 14 total points. This season Michigan has outdid their opponents in scoring at 139 to 38 points in their 1st 5 games in 2015.
In the Maryland game the star defensive player was D. Morgan who had 1 interception and 9 tackles in the game, and was a prime factor in the reason the Terrapins only ended the game with a total of 29 yards rushing. But against the Wildcats thing may be different since Northwestern offense on the rush has averaged some 249 yards each game to date, which ranks 14th in NCAA Division IA.
This is a game where the Wolverines like their chances playing the Wildcats as in the ultimate 10 games between these 2 rivals the Wolverines are 7 and 3 straight up.
The prediction in this game is that the Wildcats of Northwestern will win this game with the final score Northwestern 17 and Michigan 10.