Rutgers vs. Michigan State Prediction
The Big Ten kicks off its season this weekend and one of the matchups on Saturday will pit Rutgers versus Michigan State at 12:00 p.m. ET. The Spartans are laying 13 points but is MSU a good bet to cover the number or is there a better bet on the board?
Game Snapshot
339 Rutgers Scarlet Knights (+13) at 340 Michigan State (-13); o/u 46.5
Spartan Stadium, East Lansing, MI
12:00 p.m. ET, Saturday, October 24, 2020
TV: Big Ten Network
Rutgers Scarlet Knights Game Notes
Rutgers redshirt sophomore QB Artur Sitkowski and senior QB Noah Vedral are listed as co-starters on the depth chart released ahead of Saturday’s season-opener at Michigan State. The race to be the starter in the first game of Schiano Era 2.0 remains undecided, as Sitkowski (6’5/224) and Vedral (6’1/195) are both listed on the top line of the depth chart. Sitkowski, who struggled mightily as a freshman starter under former HC Chris Ash, briefly considered the possibility of transferring before removing his name from the portal back in December. Last season he appeared in three games, completing 44-of-68 passes for 429 yards and one touchdown with two interceptions. As for Vedral, the grad transfer who began his career at Nebraska started two of the six games in which he appeared last season and proved to be a capable runner while also completing 34-of-52 passes for 418 yards. The expectation is that HC Greg Schiano will wait until later in the week, possibly even kickoff, to name his starter.
Michigan State Spartans Game Notes
Michigan State senior DE Jacub Panasiuk has opted back in and will play the 2020 fall season. One of the Big Ten’s best talents is back in the fold. A little over a month ago, Panasiuk announced he would be redshirting because the Big Ten did not appear to be playing a fall season. Now that the conference is back, so is Panasiuk. The 6-foot-3, 245-pound pass-rusher only put up a modest 8.5 tackles for loss and 3.5 sacks last season, but his presence was felt in the way offenses had to scheme extra protection to keep him down. Panasiuk took a massive leap between his sophomore and junior seasons, so if another leap is on the way, Panasiuk could bloom into a real stud defensive end.
Rutgers vs. Michigan State Betting Prediction
The under cashed in six of the previous seven meetings between these two teams and is 7-1 in the Scarlet Knights’ last eight road games dating back to last season. The under is also 11-4 in Rutgers’ last 15 conference games, is 13-3 in its last 16 games as a road underdog and is 12-5 in the Scarlet Knights’ last 17 games as an underdog of any kind. On the other side, the under is 6-0 in the Spartans’ last six games played in October, is 16-5 in their last 21 games overall and is 12-4 in their last 16 conference games.
COLLEGE FOOTBALL WEEK 8 BETTING PREDICTION: RUTGERS/MICHIGAN STATE UNDER 46.5