Follow Sean & Jordan throughout the 2024 college football season as they give picks for EVERY Big Ten game & compete in the FanDuel $100 Balance Challenge
by Sean Szymczak & Jordan Beckley
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Sean & Jordan‘s 3 Big Ten Locks of the Week
Sean: 1-2 last week (16-17 overall)
Jordan: 2-1 last week (17-16 overall)
Sean & Jordan’s Picks for Every Big Ten Game
Sean: 5-2 last week (60-45 overall)
Jordan: 5-2 last week (62-43 overall)
Sean’s 1st Pick: Nebraska (-1.5) vs Wisconsin
This is a matchup of two programs in eerily similar positions. Both wrapping up year 2 of a regime change that started with unbridled enthusiasm. Both are 5-5, made midseason changes to their offensive coaching staff, and desperately need a win to get to bowl eligibility and keep their fanbases tame for at least one more season.
Both Nebraska and Wisconsin have played sloppy football on both sides of the football all season long. Both are going to try to get the run game going early and keep as much pressure off their QBs as possible. This is going to be an ugly, slow-paced game resembling the old Big Ten West. On paper, this is as close to a pick ’em as you can get.
Even so, I’m going with the Huskers three reasons. First, I have way more confidence in Dylan Raiola than I do Braedyn Locke. If this game comes down to which QB can make a big play (or who can avoid the big mistake), I trust Raiola more. Second, Wisconsin fired OC Phil Longo just this past week. They are almost certainly going to try to get back to their old-school, ground-and-pound offensive style. But I’m not sure they have the personnel to lean into that with much success in just one week. And third, this game is in Lincoln. It’s a virtual must-win for Matt Rhule and the game will go into the night. I think the Husker crowd will have a big impact on this game.
It’s not going to be pretty, but I expect Nebraska to get their sixth win for the first time since 2016 this weekend.
Jordan’s 1st Pick: Iowa Maryland O43.5
This is a no-brainer for me.
Iowa has beaten this spread in 5 of their 7 Big Ten games. Maryland has beaten this spread in all of their Big Ten games, and has gone over 43.5 in all but 1 game on the entire season.
94% of bets are on the over and 93% of the total money is on it as well. If this goes wrong, it’s going wrong for everybody. This is like buying S&P 500. If it fails you it’s failing everyone.
Sean’s 2nd Pick: Minnesota (+11.5) vs Penn State
This one is a gut feeling more than anything. Minnesota has a bye week to prepare for the visit from the Nittany Lions. They should have a game-plan to account for swiss army knife Tyler Warren and have a shutdown corner in Justin Walley who can take away Harrison Wallace – the only other real receiving threat on Penn State.
Minnesota is quietly 11th nationally in total defense and should be able to force Drew Allar to make the plays to win this game. Allar’s mobility has been a game-changer all season long and he certainly has the skillset needed to come up with clutch plays. But I’m not sure Allar will be able to single-handedly will Penn State’s offense to a dominant performance.
Max Brosmer is finally playing like the experienced veteran we expected him to be coming into this season. With Darius Taylor 100% healthy, the Gophers should be able to control the clock and take some calculated shots to Daniel Jackson. If Penn State’s defense has a weakness, it’s in the back-end.
Minnesota will undoubtedly need to steal a possession or two in order to pull off the upset. But as long as they take care of the football and don’t give Penn State any easy scores, this should be a tight one entering the 4th. I like Minnesota to cover but come up just short in their upset bid.
By the way, Minnesota is 8-2 against the spread this season.
Jordan’s 2nd Pick: Indiana +10.5 vs Ohio State
It’s honestly such a shame that all of the dialogue leading up to a Top-5 Big Ten matchup between IU & Ohio State has been about when Indiana loses should they make it over any 2-loss SEC team.
Not only is it jumping the gun of this game, the games all the 2-loss SEC teams have to play and the games that the rest of the CFP pool have to play, but it’s just disrespectful to the Hoosiers.
I don’t care if IU has a low strength of schedule. They beat who’s in front of them. If SOS was the only thing than there should be 30 other undefeated teams who had a worse SOS than the Hoosiers right? Oh wait there are only 3 teams with 0 losses left.
Indiana isn’t just beating their “weak opponents” they’re obliterating them. The Hoosiers have the no.2 scoring offense and the no.7 scoring defense. That’s why they’re strength of record is so high and they are no.7 via simple rating system.
Turns out you have to be a good team to be undefeated 10 games in. People have dismissed IU all week and so have the sportsbooks. 11 points is too much value on the Hoosiers side. Sportsbettingdime has Indiana as the outright winner and I may not be ready to go that far but the play is absolutely Indiana to cover.
Sean’s 3rd Pick: Michigan State (-13.5) vs Purdue
This has everything to do with how bad Purdue is, not how much faith I have in the Spartans. The Boilermakers are 2-8 ATS and have hardly shown any fight in the final stretch of the season. Ryan Walters’ firing seems inevitable at this point. A season that started with a lot of optimism has suddenly warped into one of the darkest seasons in Purdue football history.
Don’t succumb yourself to watching this game. Bet against Purdue and enjoy your balance increase in the morning.
Jordan’s 3rd Pick: O36.5 Michigan vs Northwestern
This is a matchup of pretty good defenses (but not great) against bad offenses. So which wins out bad offense hitting an under or good not great defense (over)?
I think the key is that these are Top 50ish defenses not Top-20 defenses. This is the type of over under Iowa would have every week last year. But that Iowa team had a top 5 defense and Bottom 5 offense. These teams are just bad enough defensively and just competent enough that this is too low.
Michigan would have hit this over in all but two games this season. Northwestern would have hit the over in 7 of the 10 games. I don’t love it but the Over is my bet.
Disclaimer: Spreads & Over/Unders (left column) are updated up until kick-off, but our picks are locked in every Thursday. Follow @TheFloorSlap to get in on our picks ASAP!
| Game | Sean’s Picks | Jordan’s Picks |
| PURD at MSU (-13.5) O/U: 47.5 | Fading Purdue has been the lock of the season MSU -13.5 | Walters isn’t fired yet MSU -13.5 |
| IOWA (-4.5) at MD O/U: 43.5 | Bettors just haven’t watched Iowa this season I guess O43.5 | Lock it in! O43.5 |
| IND at OSU (-10.5) O/U: 53.5 | This should be fun O53.5 | Disrespectful IND +10.5 |
| ILL at RUTG (-2.5) O/U: 47.5 | Rutgers has never won three straight Big Ten games. Ever. ILL +2.5 | U.G.L.Y. U47.5 |
| PSU (-11.5) at MINN O/U: 45.5 | The bye week will help Minnesota keep this one close MINN +11.5 | Franklin is not missing the CFP PSU -11.5 |
| NWST at MICH (-10.5) O/U: 36.5 | Bryce Underwood isn’t playing for Michigan just yet NW +10.5 | Surely it won’t go under? O36.5 |
| WISC at NEBR (-1.5) O/U: 42.5 | Home field tilts this evenly matched game in Huskers’ favor NEB -1.5 | Can I fade both teams? NEBR -1.5 |
| USC (-4.5) at UCLA O/U: 51.5 | I was right about Jayden Maiava! USC -4.5 | Both must win to make a bowl USC-4.5 |
$100 FanDuel Balance Challenge
| Last Week | Current Balance | |
| Sean | ($1.82) | $42.07 |
| Jordan | ($14.39) | $45.60 |
Starting Balance of $100
Sean’s Picks
Notre Dame (-14.5) vs Army (-110)
I didn’t hear no bell! A fast start in September has quickly devolved into which one of can keep some of our balance. We have two more weeks in the regular season, so I’m going balls to the wall.
Notre Dame took care of Navy in swift fashion when they played earlier in the season, disposing of the Midshipmen 51-14. Sure, Army is undefeated. But their SOS is in the bottom 10 of college football. This is a nearly identical matchup for Notre Dame.
The Irish are simply bigger and better than Army is. Their rush attack is humming and won’t be stopped by the undersized Black Knights. Army’s offense isn’t built to play from behind. If (more like when) they find themselves in an early deficit, they will be forced to abandon their grind-it-out identity and air it out a little more. That’s what happened to Navy which resulted in miscue after miscue.
Notre Dame runs away in this one and covers with ease.
Betting $30 to win $27.27
Jordan’s Picks
Colorado -2.5 over Kansas
The Jayhawks don’t play spoiler this week. I think Colorado is on a mission and that mission ends in the Big 12 Title game not here. Buffs cover.
Betting $5 to win $4.03
U55.5 Ole Miss at Florida
Ole Miss doesn’t score enough on the road and Florida isn’t good enough to put up the points needed to get the over against the Rebel defense.
Betting $5 to win $4.35
Arizona State -3.5 over BYU
The team of destiny run is over for BYU. The Sun Devils aren’t perfect and are not a CFP worthy team, but they are just three wins from getting a bye! Arizona State wins by more than a FG at home.
Betting $5 to win $4.90
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