Illinois at Michigan

Illinois won seven of its first eight games before slipping and losing to Michigan State and Purdue, but the Fighting Illini still are outperforming preseason expectations as they did not return as many starters as most other Big Ten schools and they finished 5-7 in coach Bret Bielema's first year in 2021. The Illini do get Michigan in a lookahead spot for the Wolverines, who have a momentous meeting with Ohio State next week and they could be looking ahead a bit to that one while trying to cover this big point spread. Illinois is #2 in the country allowing only 249.7 yards per game and #3 in scoring defense (12.5 per game) and Michigan has played a relatively weak schedule. Illini quarterback Tommy Devito has thrown 15 touchdown passes and only three interceptions and has a stellar 146.2 QB rating. Michigan's QB, J.J. McCarthy, has thrown for fewer than 170 yards in four straight games and the team is becoming one-dimensional with Blake Corum doing most of the work at running back. Illinois is 6-1 ATS its past seven road games and 8-2-1 ATS versus teams with winning records. Take the points with Illinois.