Do any of you read this?

I mean, seriously. I decided to do a little experiment and yanked the Predicto after something like 120+ (I’m not looking it up) straight games. I did this over a month ago, starting with the weekend the BS gang were all in town for Minnesota. Sure, we still tell you who we think is going to win either via social media or Bdowd’s quickcasts or via the Handsome Hour podcast (which, I mean, if you haven’t subscribed to those and SMASHED THAT LIKE BUTTON then please just do it to humor us) but the Predicto was one of our few staples. It was the rare thing that we said we were gonna do and then actually kept doing. And then I took it away and got precisely zero questions about where it went.

Nobody reads anymore – or nobody really wants to read. I mean, that’s not entirely true because there are still books published and there is an audience for those, but when I think back (as I did this week as Deadspin crumbled) to the earlier days of sports blogging, everybody wrote tons and the readership consumed most of it. I’m as guilty as anyone else – if I see something longform, I skim it usually unless it’s a topic I’m super-interested in. If a video is longer than a minute, I sigh heavily. So I get it.

Anyway, let’s talk about this game only because I feel like it. And given that the Big Ten slate is light this week, let’s also peruse that.

Nebraska at Purdue

Nebraska is favored by 3.5 and the over/under is 58 points right now. That has crept up a bit to where it’s a little hazy for me. Nebraska scores points and gives up points, so seeing a total of over 60 isn’t hard for me, but it’s going to be cold and not super-pleasant in Ross-Ade so who the hell knows.

Nebraska is in desperation mode now because they’re 4-4 and a bowl is tantalizingly close. (Isn’t it hilarious that they fired Solich and Pelini for “only” winning 9 games a year and now they’re going to throw a party when they win 6?) Also, Nebraska has some toughies remaining – after Purdue they host Wisconsin, go to Maryland and then finish with a game at home against Iowa. They gotta win two more games and the best candidates by far are roadies at Purdue and Maryland.

The consensus here at BS is that Purdue loses by about a score after digging themselves a hole and then climbing back out of it a bit. Whether Scott Frost wears a hoodie or not while denigrating those who were cold remains to be seen. Nebraska 38, Purdue 31.

Speaking for myself, I want this game and the Bucket. I don’t care about Northwestern or Wisconsin nearly as much. I want to beat Frost, retain the Bucket and look ahead to 2020.

Underrated side activity during this game: watching Nebraska twitter if the Huskers have any trouble with a depleted and hobbled Purdue team.

Michigan at Maryland

What the hell happened to that Maryland team that looked legit? Michigan is favored by over three touchdowns and it’s hard not to see them covering that. Using the Purdue metric, it’s even harder. Purdue mollywhomped this Maryland squad right before peeing the bed against Illinois. But yeah, the Big Ten is soft, media types.

Rutgers at Illinois

I’ll be the first to admit that Purdue football hasn’t earned anything this year, but RU@Illinois in the 3:30 window is….wow. What a clash. I wonder when the last time Illinois was a twenty point favorite in a conference game, because that’s what they are here. At first, that felt like a lot of points for Illinois to cover but then I remembered Rutgers is on like their fourth QB of the season and is literally being coached by a HS coach. Rutgers really cannot score when playing in conference. Add in that they have to travel 1000 miles and I just don’t think Illinois will even be tested.

Get ready for Santa Lovie in a bowl because after this one they’ll be 5-4, riding a three game winning streak and still have Northwestern at home in their rivalry game (as though anyone would want to fight for ownership of the state of Illinois).

Northwestern at Indiana

Because I’m a college football nerd, I kind of like this one. Indiana is riding high, Tom Allen is (kinda sadly) begging people to come support the 6-2 Hoosiers and Northwestern is 1-6. But I knew Northwestern would be 1-6 because their schedule was not set up for them at all. The thing I didn’t expect to see was them look almost as inept as Rutgers when it comes to scoring points. In their six losses, the Mildcats have scored 7, 10, 15, 10, 3 and zero points. That’s a total of 45 points in six games. Woof. I’m sure it’s all due to people looking at their phones and using social media, though, right Fitz?

The Cats now finish the season with IU, Purdue, UMass, Minnesota and Illinois. If they could score at all, they could literally win all of those. Will it start against an IU that has got to be pretty happy with itself? I say it does.