Big Ten at Ten 9.7.12: Week 2 Notes and Odds

Hear me out: this could be one of the most interesting weeks in the Big Ten conference this season. The day starts out with Ohio State taking on a talented C-USA team in Central Florida at the Horseshoe. The Golden Knights return 16 starters (8 offense, 8 defense) and are led by quarterback Blake Bortles. Penn State also travels to play the Virginia Cavaliers who are favored by 10 points. Fresh off a disappointing loss to a Ohio, the Nittany Lions could cover up last weeks black eye with a win in Charlottesville.

At 2:30PM CT the in-state rivalries kick off with Iowa State @ Iowa, Purdue @ Notre Dame and Michigan State @ Central Michigan. Iowa State supposedly has their "best team in years", Notre Dame is already on their way to another national championship per Lou Holtz and Central Michigan still wishes they had Dan LeFevour. There's also what's sure to be a defensive masterpiece when Air Force takes on Michigan. Finally, the night ends with Nebraska and Illinois heading west to take on UCLA and Arizona State, respectively.

Did I mention the nerds? Yeah, Vanderbilt is playing Northwestern at 7:00PM on the BTN. NEEEEEEERDS.

As always, you can find a full list of every game and network here. Here's the latest lines as of midnight and where they started.

A few things to point out:

• 81% of bettors have Iowa State covering the spread.
• Vegas Insider has Virginia opening at 5 but most casinos always had the Cavs by 10.
• How did the Central Michigan line drop? 2009 was a long time ago, Las Vegas. Same for the Wisconsin game. I'm thinking a few bettors were concerned by the Badgers performance against UNI.
• The Nebraska line increased despite the injury to Rex Burkhead?
• The oddest line has to be Illinois @ Arizona State. I understand the Sun Devils being favored. What I don't understand is the line going DOWN when it appears Illini starting QB Nathan Scheelhaase won't be starting tomorrow.

Links after the jump.

Team Links:

• The new scoreboard at Memorial Stadium will cost $6.7 million.
• Tim Beckman is hoping the Illini don't trip up.
• How to watch Indiana play UMass.
• The CR Gazette breaks down ISU.
• Marc Morehouse compares Dick Shaftsteele and James Vandenberg.
• Nearly 8 million people watched Michigan get demolished on national TV.
• 5 Michigan keys to victory.
• Andrew Maxwell has a chance to make a strong impression against CSU.
• Mark Dantonio wants his players to respect the game.
• FBT recaps the UNLV game in a podcast.
• The Daily Gopher's podcast for the New Hampshire game.
• Picking up the tempo is good for the Nebraska offense.
• Rex Burkhead is day to day heading into the UCLA game. Translation: he's not going to play.
• Oh look, a new post from Bring Your Champions, They're Our Meat.
• SoP's name of the week for Vanderbilt.
• 11W's week two situational.
• Land Grant Holy Land previews the UCF Knights.
• Derek Day (who?) will start at running back for Penn State at Virginia.
• Penn State expects a "brutal" atmosphere on the road at Virginia.
• Hammer and Rails looks at Purdue's 2013 recruits.
• JS Online (who will soon be taken off my Google Reader) rounds up Wisconsin predictions.

Conference Links:

• The Pre-Snap Read all-name teams includes some Big Ten names.
• Interesting week 2 numbers from Dave Revsine.
• IlliniHQ makes its week two Big Ten picks.
• Pac-12 territory is treacherous for B1G teams.
• Tom Dienhart previews week two.
• ESPN B1G blog tracks their Big Ten fantasy teams.

Finally, here's a video of a BearCat band member eating shit (not literally) from last night's game.