College Football Predictions 2018: Picks for the biggest games of Week 9

No. 20 Wisconsin at Northwestern

Spread: Wisconsin -6.5

This may not seem like one of the biggest games, but this one has huge implications in the Big Ten West with the winner controlling their own destiny for a spot in the Big Ten title game.

With Wisconsin still having to go on the road to play Penn State and Purdue, they can ill-afford to lose this one in Evanston if they want to retain divisional supremacy.

The Badgers are the only non-option team to rank in the top-five in the country in rushing offense at 282 yards-per-game. Led by the next-in-line of their factory of running backs in sophomore Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin routinely wears opponents out game-after-game. Taylor has already surpassed 1100 yards on the season, and senior backup Taiwan Deal is more than capable to spell him, eclipsing 100 yards rushing in his own right last week against Illinois.

Northwestern ranks 49th in the country in run defense, so they’ll have their hands full containing Taylor and company.

The Wildcats have been a confusing team to get a read on this year. They took Michigan to the wire and scored a road win over Michigan State, but also lost to Akron and had to come-from-behind to clip Rutgers last week. They’ll have to find more consistency all around if they want to achieve their goal of making it to the Big Ten Championship.

This feels like a poor matchup for Northwestern against Wisconsin’s potent rushing attack, and I think they’ll have a tough time stopping it.

Pick: Wisconsin 30, Northwestern 23