Michigan State-Michigan Line

Once again in the Big Ten. Once again a line that’s as many as 4 points away from what I consider to be the true spread. Once again I’ll be going against my national championship tip, or at least the team who once represented the best value, the Wolverines.

Needless to say anytime Michigan State and Michigan go head to head, it brings most of the surrounding areas of Lake Michigan to a standstill. This being the first time the two have met with both ranked within the nation’s top 10, and this games takes on even more significance.

As I alluded to, this line does confound me. I thought the edge really should have gone to the Spartans. Michigan State is undefeated in Lansing this season and has won 12 of their last 13 home encounters against the Wolverines. The Wolverines on the other hand have lost 3 of their last 5 road games and 19 of their last 25 overall games against their state rival.

Michigan may be ranked 4^th overall and the Spartans 8^th, yet those rankings are flipped within the conference where MSU sit above the Wolverines.

MSU are in better form having won 8 of their last 9, with the Wolverines going 6-3 in the same period. In that time the Spartans have emerged as one of the most defensively dominant squads in the nation while some of the gloss may have fallen away from the Wolverines owing to the gap in scoring prowess outside of Trey Burke and Tim Hardaway Jr.

I think where lines are concerned, the bookies are much more bound by the somewhat dicey, often prejudiced national rankings which really act as a basic guide than anything more. After all, the national number 1 has fallen 5 of the past 6 weeks, while the Wolverines fell twice within 7 days of being given their mantle.

This will be an intriguing game which will provide some strong answers insofar as the pecking order of the Big Ten is concerned as well as presenting a better idea concerning the complexion of the national rankings.

By the end of tonight we might need to get used to the idea of Michigan State being a bona fide national championship contender, a huge leap seeing as they were ranked 22^nd nationally just 5 weeks ago.