The Michigan Wolverines are looking forward to their offshore betting clash with the Penn State Nittany Lions, and the reason for that anticipation is Saquon Barkley. “Saquon is a tremendous athlete,” Michigan running back Karan Higdon said. “He can do everything. He can run away from people. He can make people miss and he can run through you.” He can lick his own elbow. He can square the circle. He can check his Facebook on a typewriter. “He’s going to challenge our whole defense as a group,” linebacker Devin Bush Jr. said of Barkley. He’ll do more than that; he will rock your world and haunt your dreams.
"When the snows fall and the white winds blow, the lone wolverine dies, but the PRIDE survives." #PSUWhiteout returns this Saturday. pic.twitter.com/4UeMftCMgc
— Penn State Blue Band (@PSUBlueBand) October 15, 2017
- Date: October 21
- Time: 7:35 PM
- Venue: Beaver Stadium, University Park, PA
- Sportsbook Odds:
Michigan +9½ (-110) 45 (-110) +290
Penn State -9½ (-110) 45 (-110) -350
If Saquon Barkley were Achilles in Zeno’s paradox, he’d catch the tortoise
The Wolverines’ defense allows 85.8 yards per game, which ranks 6th nationally, but they could drop a few spots after facing Barkley, who has averaged, through six games, 6.4 yards per carry on 102 carries for a total of 649 rushing yards – more than half his 1,044 all-purpose yards. Last season, however, Michigan’s defense held, in the Wolverines 49-10 win over Penn State, Barkley to 59 yards and no TDs on 15 carries. The Lions managed, as a whole, just 191 yards and averaged just 3.5 yards per play on that occasion. So what’s changed this year? What makes the year that James Franklin finally beats, as PSU head coach, the Wolverines? Two reasons; Penn State is, at this moment, per the AP Poll, the second-best program in the country behind Alabama, and Saquon Barkley is arguably the top player in college football right now. place and time also favour PSU; the local team is 4-1 SU and against the offshore betting spread in the last five editions of this matchup, and Universitas Michigania is 0-3-1 ATS in their last four games in October, while the Lions are 5-0-1 ATS in their last six in October, 8-1-2 ATS in their last 11 at home, and 13-1-2 ATS in their last 16 overall.
Saquon Barkley could never be tried because he has no peers
Michigan’s defense is top of the line, not so it’s offense, though. Not to knock on QB John O’Korn, but, honestly, Ted Danson’s cardboard cutout from Three Men and a Baby, could probably move the ball better. the Wolverines, who had lost the week prior to Michigan State, barely escaped Memorial Stadium in Bloomington on Saturday after outlasting Indiana 27-20 in overtime, and that was, what with the passing game gaining just 58 yards, thanks to the aforementioned Higdon and, to a lesser extent, Kareem Walker, who could in fact get more carries against the Lions – who are, by the way, a top-25 defense against the run. PSU has won five of its six games by double digits but the offshore betting total in their last three has gone under – seems like it might be more of the same versus Michigan.