Big Ten: Michigan vs Michigan State 10/29/22 College Football Picks, Predictions, Odds

The Michigan Wolverines and Michigan State Spartans clash Saturday in a week 9 Big Ten college football game from Michigan Stadium.

The Michigan State Spartans come into this one off of their bye week, looking to get a big upset win to get back to .500, improving to 3-4 on the year after a 34-28 OT win over Wisconsin last time out. Payton Thorne has thrown for 1,499 yards, 11 touchdowns and 7 interceptions on 65.4% passing while Jalen Berger has a team-high 367 rushing yards with 5 touchdowns. Keon Coleman leads MSU’s receiving group with 31 grabs for 393 yards and 5 TDs while Jayden Reed has a team-high 32 receptions including 373 receiving yards along with 3 touchdowns. Tre Mosley has 226 receiving yards while three more receivers have 100+ receiving yards as well this season. On defense, Cal Haladay has a team-high 58 total tackles while Kendell Brooks has 57 total tackles. Jacoby Windmon has a team-high 5.5 sacks as part of MSU’s 17 sacks as a team this season.

The Michigan Wolverines will be out to remain unbeaten after having their bye week. The last time we saw the Wolverines was in a 41-17 win over Penn State to climb to 7-0 on the year. J.J. McCarthy has thrown for 1,297 yards, 9 touchdowns and a pair of interceptions on 77.1% passing while Blake Corum has a team-high 901 rushing yards with 13 touchdowns and Donovan Edwards has 307 rushing yards and 4 scores. Ronnie Bell leads Michigan with 35 receptions for 429 yards while three other Wolverines have 200+ receiving yards as well on the year. On defense, Junior Colson has a team-high 49 total tackles while Mike Morris has a team-high 5 sacks as part of Michigan’s 24 sacks as a unit this season.

Michigan State is 0-4 ATS in their last 4 road games and 1-4 ATS in their last 5 games overall while the under is 4-1 in their last 5 road games against a team with a winning home record. Michigan is 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games against a team with a losing record and 0-4 ATS in their last 4 games following an ATS win while the under is 4-0 in their last 4 games following an ATS win.

I get the reasoning for wanting to back Michigan here, as the Wolverines are obviously unbeaten and are rested after their bye week. However, this is still a rivalry and Michigan State’s also had an extra week to prepare for this game. It’s no secret that Michigan’s the better team on both sides of the ball, but funny things happen in these games sometimes and the last time Michigan State was at Ann Arbor, they were a similar 21.5-point underdog and won outright. I’m not saying it happens here, but three scores is a ton in a rivalry game. I’ll take my chances with Michigan State and the points here.