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Week 8: Open Thread

Week 8 is here. Lots of byes, maybe some handshakes.

James Lang-USA TODAY Sports

Week 8 is here! Fall is in full effect around Big Ten country and the temperatures are showing it.  Great day for football all around.  Here is the roundup:

Northwestern at Nebraska (-7) || 12:00pm ET || ESPN2

Northwestern is on a skid of getting blown out by two of the top teams in the conference while Nebraska finally closed out a game in convincing fashion.  Can Northwestern recover?

Penn State at Maryland (in Baltimore, +6.5) || 3:30pm ET || ESPN

Handshakes anyone? This game is "home" for Maryland even though it's being played at M&T Bank Stadium.  Baltimore and north has traditionally been more Penn State/WVU country than Maryland, even though Maryland is diligently trying to change that.  I'm expecting obnoxious Penn State fans to be annoying me all day and given Maryland's record, I'm not sure they've given much reason for Maryland fans to pay more for tickets to come.  Let's see what new interim head coach Mike Locksley does after a bye week and moving things around.  Will Likely will make his debut on offense this week as well.

Wisconsin at Illinois (+6) || 3:30pm ET || BTN

I got nothin here other than this is spread is woefully low for this game.  Wisconsin should win convincingly, so naturally Illinois somehow makes it close.

Indiana at Michigan State (-16.5) || 3:30pm ET || ABC/ESPN2

MSU wins, but doesn't cover the spread.  I'm fairly certain last week was their only win against the spread all year so odds are in Indiana's favor there at least.

Ohio State at Rutgers (-21) || 8:00pm ET || ABC

Rutgers has been sneakily keeping themselves in games all year long, so I won't expect otherwise.  I think I picked OSU with JT Barrett to beat the spread but I won't be surprised if Rutgers keeps it a game and keeps it close.

That's it for this week! Light on the games but some of them could be very interesting.  Normal rules apply: No illegal streams, no illicit picks/videos/gifs/etc., keep it sorta civil.  Have fun!