Illinois at Wisconsin

Illinois is playing hard for coach Lovie Smith, a .500 team with sights on a bowl game. They blew out Rutgers and had a 25-19 loss to South Florida as a +14 dog. The Illini like to control the ball with the #22 ranked running game in the nation with running backs Reggie Corbin (484 yards, 7.4 ypc) and Mike Epstein (397 yards, 6.8 ypc). The Fighting Illini have covered four straight after a spread loss. Wisconsin isn't living up to the preseason hype, losing to BYU and Michigan, the latter last week in a 38-13 rout. Wisconsin is on a 1-5 spread run and has failed to cover five in a row at home. The Badgers are a huge favorite but beat Illinois in a grind-it-out, run-heavy game last year just 24-10. This game will be similar, so back the motivated big dog to keep it close again. Play Illinois.