Time: 3:30 PM EST, Saturday
Spread: PUR -3
Total: 51
M/L: PUR -145, MIN +125
Things have gotten rough for the Purdue Boilermakers lately. No longer fitting the moniker “Spoilermakers,” the 3-4 Purdue squad has dropped three consecutive, all to tough opponents in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Ohio State. The result has been that Purdue has only triumphed against the poor competition of Eastern Kentucky, Eastern Michigan and Marshall, but the Boilermakers still rank in the middle of the pack in most major statistical categories and enter this game against Minnesota as three point favorites according to college football oddsmakers.
Caleb TerBush is the primary reason for Purdue finding themselves as favorites in this game. The 6’5″ senior is having a fine season, with a QB rating of 126.8, a figure which would be higher if not for his seven interceptions and seven sacks. His competion ratio of 61.6 percent has been reached on 151 attempts for 946 yards. In addition to that, he has rushed for two touchdowns. TerBush should present a big challenge to Minnesota this week.
Minnesota, though, does have the defense to deal with TerBush. They rank 38th in the nation in points allowed, surrendering just 22.4 per game. They couldn’t keep the Wisconsin backs under wraps last wee, though, giving up 337 rushing yards and 443 total yards of offense to the Badgers, who ran away with an easy victory, winning 38-13 over the Golden Gophers.
Purdue running back Akeem Shavers could be in for a big game. The 5’11” senior back has been consistent, and pretty solid. He’s ran for 354 yards on the season on 84 carries, and has an additional 151 yards receiving. He had a big game opening night against Eastern Kentucky, rushing for 74 yards on 11 attempts, and he has been over 50 yards on three other occasions, including a 73 yard game in a 51-41 win over Marshall on Sept 29th. Shavers hasn’t carried the ball as much the last two weeks, but Minnesota’s rush defense is poor so things could change this week.
MINNESOTA BETTING TRENDS
Golden Gophers are 5-0 ATS in their last 5 vs teams with losing home records, 6-1 ATS in their last 7 at home, 7-3 ATS in their last 10 following an SU loss of 20+, 15-7 ATS in their last 22 vs teams with losing records, 2-5 ATS in their last 7 following an ATS loss, 1-8 ATS in their last 9 in OCT.
PURDUE BETTING TRENDS
Boilermakers are 6-2-1 ATS in their last 9 games following an SU loss, 11-26-1 ATS in their last 38 in OCT, 1-3-1 ATS in their last 5 conference games, and 2-6-2 ATS in their last 10 on turf.
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