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Big Ten in the spotlight

AP college football picks

The Associated Press Noah Cain and the PSU offense is prepping for the Auburn defense this week.

This week it is the Big Ten that gets an opportunity to make a statement.

The Pac-12 was in the spotlight last week, and while the conference as a whole didn’t fare well going 3-5 in nonconference games against FBS opponents, Oregon’s upset at Ohio State was a potential season-shaper.

The Big Ten has five teams facing ranked nonconference opponents on Saturday. According to the Big Ten network, that hasn’t happened since October 4, 1975.

The main event is Saturday night in Happy Valley with No. 22 Auburn at No. 10 Penn State, a rare SEC-Big Ten regular-season game matching ranked teams in a home stadium. The last was No. 3 Alabama’s 27-11 victory at No. 23 Penn State in 2011.

The only other time a ranked SEC team has played at a Big Ten school was Georgia at Michigan in 1965. The Bulldogs won 15-7.

Elsewhere Saturday, four games have unranked Big Ten teams facing ranked nonconference foes. The Big Ten is an underdog in each and the road team in three of them, so keep expectations modest.

Especially for Nebraska, which is a three-touchdown underdog against Oklahoma in a meeting that celebrates the 50th anniversary of the 1971 Game of the Century between the Cornhuskers and Sooners. Nostalgia might be the only appeal of this matchup of former Big Eight/12 rivals.

Purdue (at No. 12 Notre Dame) and Michigan State (at No. 24 Miami) are both single-digit road underdogs and Indiana is underdog at home against No. 8 Cincinnati.

Nether is ranked, but Minnesota at Colorado is another Power Five vs. Power Five there for the taking for the Big Ten.

The Big Ten’s best, Ohio State, took a hit last week, but the rest of the league can pick up the slack on Saturday.

SATURDAY

No. 1. Alabama (-15¢) at No. 11 Florida: The last Gators QB to beat the Tide was Tim Tebow; ‘Bama has won seven straight meetings, the last three in the SEC championship game … Alabama, 42-28.

South Carolina (+30¢) at No. 2. Georgia: Bulldogs might get QB JT Daniels back, but figure they’ll play it safe against an SEC rival that barely squeaked by East Carolina last week … Georgia, 35-10.

Nebraska (+22¢) at No. 3. Oklahoma: Last meeting came in the 2010 Big 12 championship game; since parting ways, the Huskers are 80-60 and Sooners are 108-25 … Oklahoma, 45-21.

Kent State (+22 ¢) at No. 5. Iowa: Hawkeyes have scored at least 25 points in eight straight games (all wins), a school record … Iowa, 41-14, Best bet.

Georgia Tech (+28¢) at No. 6. Clemson: Tigers have a 29-game home winning streak and seven straight wins against the Yellow Jackets … Clemson, 45-10.

New Mexico (+28¢) at No. 7. Texas A&M: Lobos start former Kentucky QB Terry Wilson, who has completed 73% of his passes for six touchdowns … Texas A&M, 49-13.

No. 8. Cincinnati (-3¢) at Indiana: Bearcats QB Desmond Ridder is averaging 11.4 yards per attempt but the Hoosiers will be a huge step up in competition from his first two games … Cincinnati, 27-20.

Tulsa (+27¢) at No. 9. Ohio State: Buckeyes coach Ryan Day didn’t exactly give a vote of confidence to defensive coordinator Kerry Coombs following another shoddy defensive performance … Ohio State, 52-21.

No. 22 Auburn (+6¢) at No. 10. Penn State: Tigers don’t get to these parts much; Auburn’s only previous regular-season road game against a Big Ten team was 1931 at Wisconsin … Penn State, 24-20.

Purdue (+7¢) at No. 12. Notre Dame: Irish have won seven straight and nine of 10 against the Boilermakers, but they haven’t played since 2014 … Notre Dame, 28-22.

Fresno State (+11¢) at No. 13. UCLA: Bruins are looking to go unbeaten in nonconference games for the first time since 2015 … UCLA, 34-21.

No. 14. Iowa State (-30 ¢) at UNLV: Been kind of a disappointing start to the season for the Cyclones; nothing like a trip to Vegas to forget your troubles … Iowa State, 35-10.

No. 15. Virginia Tech (+2¢) at West Virginia: Longtime rivals have played only once since 2017 and haven’t played on campus since 2005 … Virginia Tech, 23-21.

No. 16. Coastal Carolina (-13 ¢) at Buffalo: Bulls probably would have preferred hosting the Chants from Myrtle Beach in late October … Coastal Carolina, 31-24.

Tulane (+14¢) at No. 17. Mississippi: SEC championships: Rebels, six; Green Wave, three … Ole Miss, 41-28.

No. 19. Arizona State (-3¢) at No. 23 BYU: Cougars, bound for the Big 12, trying to go 3-0 against the Pac-12 … BYU, 27-24.

Georgia Southern (+23¢) at No. 20. Arkansas: Razorbacks have won consecutive games for the first time since 2017 and look to go 3-0 for the first time since 2016 … Arkansas, 34-13.

Virginia (+8¢) at No. 21. North Carolina: Get to know Cavaliers QB Brennan Armstrong, who has thrown for 744 yards and seven touchdowns in two games … North Carolina, 38-31.

Michigan State (+6¢) at No. 24. Miami: Are the Spartans for real under second-year coach Mel Tucker? … Michigan State, 31-28, Upset special.

Northern Illinois (+26¢) at No. 25. Michigan: Wolverines are 34-1 against MAC schools … Michigan, 45-14.

TWITTER REQUESTS

UCF (-6¢) at Louisville, Friday — @ChristDavis034: Last time the Knights and Cardinals played was 2013, the one season both were members of the American Athletic Conference and UCF’s upset help send it to the BCS … UCF, 34-30.

Minnesota (+1¢) at Colorado, Saturday — @40buffdad: Second straight week with a nonconference Power Five game for the Buffs … Minnesota, 21-19.

USC (-8 ¢) at Washington State, Saturday — @Keith–Clark–: What to expect from the post-Clay Helton Trojans? … USC, 27-21.

Florida State (+4¢) at Wake Forest, Saturday — @gregnole: Seminoles trying to avoid first 0-3 start since 1976, the late Bobby Bowden’s first season as coach … Wake Forest, 28-26.

Oklahoma State (+3¢) at Boise State, Saturday — @jeremyhansen15: Cowboys are second-to-last in the Big 12 in yards per play; not what you’d expect from a Mike Gundy team … Boise State, 27-24.

Last week: 14-7 straight; 12-9 against the spread.

Season: 28-15 straight; 24-19 against the spread.

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