Michigan State Spartans vs Illinois Fighting Illini Prediction, Odds and Picks for Saturday, 11/16/24

The Illinois Fighting Illini have lost their last two contests against the Oregon Ducks and the Minnesota Golden Gophers. The losses have caused Illinois to drop out of the top 25 rankings heading into their bye week. After some time off to get healthy, the Illini will welcome in the Michigan State Spartans for a 2:30 PM ET kickoff. Michigan State will also be entering this game coming off a bye weekend. The Spartans have lost their last two games and 4 of their last 5 games. Their last game was a 47-10 beat down defeat at home against the Indiana Hoosiers. The Spartans still have a lot to play for down the stretch. Michigan State is still two wins short of qualifying for a bowl game. With Purdue and Rutgers up next, this week’s contest will be the Spartans hardest test left.

My initial perception of this matchup was that Illinois deserves to be better than less than a field goal favorite against Michigan State, but then I remember that I thought the same thing when Gophers were slight favorites playing in Illinois and then covered that spread. The difference between the Gophers and the Spartans as road opponents against Illinois is the Gophers were on the upswing while Michigan State seems to be trending down. Spartans’ sophomore quarterback Aiden Chiles has shown his potential this season but has also struggled to avoid turnovers. Chiles can be a but of a wildcard, but 11 total interceptions thrown this season speaks towards there is more learning for the young quarterback ahead. Illinois quarterback Luke Altmyer has been a much more trustworthy quarterback this season. Altmyer has thrown for 16 touchdowns this season and only 3 interceptions. He will be backed by an Illini defense that has shown they can create turnovers against the

opposing quarterback. Illinois has 9 interceptions this season and has a +4-turnover ratio. I believe Illinois learned from their loss against Minnesota and will avoid their second straight conference home loss.

Illinois -3 available at the time of publishing. Playable at that number.