Holy cow, how is it week ten already? The season is flying by and last Saturday was another successful 2-1 day. I was way off on Michigan as they took Notre Dame behind the woodshed for a beating but Ohio State and Iowa came away winners for me. That pushes me to 18-11 on the season.

The Big Ten schedule is very light this weekend as six teams are off. The slate is listed below:

Michigan (-21) at Maryland, Nebraska (-3) at Purdue, Rutgers at Illinois (-20), Northwestern at Indiana (-11.5)

Northwestern at Indiana (-11.5) – 7:30 on FS1

The Indiana Hoosiers are 6-2. This is not a drill and that is not a misprint. The Hoosiers won at Nebraska on Saturday afternoon and gained bowl-eligibility. Indiana has now scored more than 30 points in all but one game this season (Ohio State being the only exception) and they’ve done it with both Michael Penix Jr. and Peyton Ramsey at quarterback. IU has balance, some explosiveness and a difference maker at wide receiver in Whop Philyor. The defense has not been as strong but they have made enough plays in the past two contests to help the Hoosiers to back-to-back road victories. They will now play host to one of the worst offenses in the country as the Northwestern Wildcats come to Bloomington. Northwestern is only averaging ten points per game and they have only exceeded 15 points one time (a 30-14 win over UNLV). While I do expect the 1-6 Wildcats to slow this game down and succeed in making it a somewhat ugly affair, IU’s defense has had a lot of success completely shutting down poor offenses. The Hoosiers shut out Eastern Illinois, held UConn to three points and shut out Rutgers. Indiana is playing with a ton of confidence and the atmosphere at Memorial Stadium should be very strong as IU fans soak in potentially their best season in nearly 30 years. I like the Hoosiers to win comfortably.

Michigan (-21) at Maryland – Noon on ABC

I’ll admit to being impressed with the Michigan Wolverines on Saturday night. How could you not be? In a game that was expected to be close, the Maize and Blue ran all over Notre Dame and they actually look like they have an identity for the first time this season. The torrential downpour certainly helped Michigan as it grounded the Notre Dame aerial attack but this game was a mismatch from the start and it backs up the strong performance Michigan gave at Penn State. They travel to College Park to take on a free-falling Maryland squad. The Terrapins “statement” win was a week two route of Syracuse. Well, the Orange has been terrible this season and since then, Maryland lost to Temple, Indiana, Purdue, Penn State and Minnesota. The only win in that stretch is a victory over Rutgers. I don’t think Michigan is suddenly a playoff-worthy team or that they can challenge Ohio State but I do think they will be able to roll Maryland for another dominant victory.