Illinois Fighting Illini (3-6) vs. Minnesota Golden Gophers (6-2)
November 6, 2021 12:00 pm EDT
The Line: Minnesota Golden Gophers -14.5 / Illinois Fighting Illini +14.5; Over/Under: -42.5
(Get latest betting odds)
The Minnesota Golden Gophers and Illinois Fighting Illini meet in week 10 Big Ten conference college football action from Huntington Bank Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Illinois Fighting Illini will try to bounce back from a 20-14 loss at home to Rutgers in their last game. Artur Sitkowski has thrown for 704 yards, 6 touchdowns and 2 interceptions on 50% passing while Chase Brown leads the Illini with 704 rushing yards and 4 TDs. Joshua McCray has 482 rushing yards while Isaiah Williams leads Illinois’ receiving group with 37 catches for 372 yards and the Illini have another five receivers with at least 100 receiving yards this season. On defense, Tarique Barnes leads the Illini with 60 total tackles while Kerby Joseph has a team-high 3 interceptions and Owen Carney Jr. has a team-high 5 sacks this season.
The Minnesota Golden Gophers will attempt to add to their current four-game winning streak after a 41-14 win over Northwestern in their last game. Tanner Morgan has thrown for 1,177 yards, 6 touchdowns and 5 interceptions on 60.8% passing while Mar’Keise Irving has 355 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns. Mike Brown-Stephens, Chris Autman-Bell and Dylan Wright each have 200+ receiving yards and another pair of Minnesota receivers have 100+ receiving yards this season. On defense, Mariano Sort-Marin has a team-high 53 total tackles while Jack Gibbens has 51 total tackles and Tyler Nubin has a pair of INTs. Boye Mafe leads Minnesota with 6 sacks while Thomas Rush has 4.5 sacks this season.
Illinois is 3-0-1 ATS in their last 4 games against a team with a winning record and 5-2 ATS in their last 7 road games against a team with a winning home record while the under is 7-0 in their last 7 games overall. Minnesota is 4-0 ATS in their last 4 games overall and 8-3 ATS in their last 11 games as a favorite while the under is 6-2 in their last 8 games following a win.
I get the case that could be made for Illinois and the points here given that the Illini haven’t really been blown out since the opening week of the season outside of a 24-0 loss to Wisconsin a couple of games back. However, Minnesota is finally getting some respect from oddsmakers despite many including myself writing them off when they went down through running back after running back and I think even with Illinois’ bowl eligibility hanging by a thread here, the Minnesota Golden Gophers just end up being too much and get the win and cover here.
