Now we are in the NCAA Football Week 11 and game day on Saturday the 14 of November 2015 as the No. 2 Buckeyes of Ohio State (Big Ten East 5-0 and 9-0 Overall) playing at the unranked Fighting Illini of Illinois (Big Ten West 2-3 and 5-4 Overall) with the game being played at the Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois with kick-off time to be announced, and seen on ESPN TV.
The Illini finally broke up the 3 game losing streaks with a win this past weekend over the Boilermakers of Purdue by some 34 points, and then headed home to prepare for this big game with the Buckeyes of Ohio State. The team seems to be very optimist regarding this upcoming match-up, but we think they will need more than mere optimism to beat the No.2 Buckeyes of Ohio State, so continue reading for more pertaining to this Big Ten game between rival East and West teams.
If you’re a fan of the undefeated 9-0 N. 2 Buckeyes of Ohio State at you Bet on College football at an Online sportsbook, then you probably think like most fans that your team is unstoppable. Since the continued their winning streak with a win over the Gophers of Minnesota 28-14 this past Saturday, and it appears they are seeking to go back to the College Football playoffs and defend their reigning title of last season.
In this game with the Illini, the Buckeyes will more than likely start at QB J. Barrett who was suspended for 1 game, and now their success will depend on his performance in this game. His replacement was C. Jones against the Gophers and he passed for 187 yards and 1 TD and was sacked on 4 occasions. In this game QB Barrett will put a lot of work on Heisman candidate RB E. Elliot who is leading their running game that is ranked 1st in the Big Ten at 241 yards each game. RB Elliot has 14 games consecutively that he has rushed for 100 yards or more, as he goes up against the Illini defensive front that has allowed 3.8 rushing yards on each carry for each game.
In QB Barrett’s last game before his suspension he passed for 224 yards on 14 completions of his 18 attempts and 3 TD’s. So in this game if QB Barrett and RB Elliot can’t get their ground game clicking, he will most likely seek out his WR M. Thomas a steady target this season as he leads the Buckeyes with some 576 yards on receptions and has 7 TD’s this season. In the ultimate 10 games with the Illini the Buckeyes have won 9 and lost 1 straight up.
Should you happen to be a fan of the 5-4 Fighting Illini of Illinois your team comes into the match-up with Ohio State with a grin on their faces after ending their losing streak with a win over the Boilermakers of Purdue 48-14 last Saturday. With that win they now have 5 win for the season and their second in the Big Ten conference to date.
In that victory the Illini success game from the ground game as RB’s in K. Vaughn and J. Ferguson combined for some 314 yards rushing and some 3 TD’s. When the game ended the Illini had the advantage on the ground at 383 to 90 and for total offense 596 to 264 yards. But all of that may be useless as they now face the 2nd ranked and undefeated at 8-0 Buckeyes of Ohio State in this Week 11 game.
If the Illini is to have a chance in this game they will need to do with their passing game that this season is averaging some 242 yards per game and that ranks 5th in the Big Ten. In the ultimate 10 games where the Illini have been the underdogs they are with 3 wins and 7 losses straight up!
It is predicted that in this Big Ten rivalry game that the Buckeyes prove to be too much offensively and will win the game with a double digit win in Week 11!