Illinois Illini @ Fresno State Bulldogs NCAA Football Week 14 Pick

Illinois Illini @ Fresno State Bulldogs NCAA Football Week 14 Pick: People see Illinois and they see a Big 10 team that went toe to toe with Michigan, beat up on Northwestern in that big Wrigley Field game where offenses went just one direction, lost to Ohio State by just 9, beat Penn State 33-13, and they think – this team is legit, giving up just 5 point on the road against a “little school” from California seems like a great bet! The key word is seems, because I’m not even sure Illinois is better than Fresno. And this is a long way for the Illini to travel – even though they’ve had 2 weeks to prepare and Fresno is sitting on a short week.

People see these little-school Bulldogs and notice they were beat 51-0 by Boise State. They place the bet on Illinois. But Fresno lost only games to Boise State, Nevada (by 1), Hawaii, and Mississippi in a shootout. The Bulldogs are a pretty dang good football team, and they’ve always been happy to play anybody anywhere, and it shows in their team confidence. Illinois is only 1-2 on the road this season. I think they’ll have trouble traveling to play the Bulldogs.

Fresno runs it just fine, and they pass it better than Illinois. They give up 5 more points than Illinois and score about 2 points less per game as well. But they’re tough, they’re at home, and they’re getting close to a touchdown. That seems like a good bet to me.

Illinois Illini @ Fresno State Bulldogs (+5.5) (Fri)