Rutgers @ Northwestern

Northwestern is sitting at 5-1, ranked 24th, holding opponents to 17 points a game, and Aidan Chiles has thrown nine touchdowns with zero interceptions. That is a real football team, and Ryan Field is going to be loud.

They beat Penn State and then went on the road and knocked off Michigan State on a last-minute score. That is not a fluke, that is a program building something. I am leaning hard toward the Wildcats before I even look at Rutgers.

I hear you both, but do not sleep on KJ Duff. The man just made the AP Midseason All-America team, 579 yards and seven touchdowns, and Rutgers just beat Maryland on the road. That offense is waking up.

Nobody wants you to know this, but Rutgers is 2-4 and everyone is writing them off, which is exactly when I start paying attention. A road team with nothing to lose and a guy like KJ Duff on the outside? That is a recipe for chaos.

@drew, Rutgers is giving up 31.8 points a game and they got torched 47-15 by Indiana three weeks ago. The defense has to show me something before I follow you down that road.

@trace the Indiana game was a blowout against a top-ten team, I am not counting that. Rutgers beat Maryland 37-30 last week and Dylan Lonergan is moving the ball.

Defense travels, son. Northwestern is holding teams to 17 points a game and Chiles has not thrown a single interception all season. You can hype Rutgers all you want, but that Wildcat defense is going to have a say.

The question I am sitting with is whether Aidan Chiles can keep that clean sheet going against a Rutgers defense that has seen some things. Nine TDs, zero picks is elite, but every streak ends somewhere.

Also worth keeping in mind that Northwestern's next game is at Oregon, so this is a spot where a team can look ahead. That is the one thing that would flip me before Saturday.

@jonesy that lookahead factor is real, but Rutgers is also staring down Michigan next week, so both teams have somewhere to be. The matchup I keep coming back to is Antwan Raymond on the ground against a Northwestern front that has been stingy all year.

I am not locked in yet, but I will say this: the series is tied 1-1 and the last time these two played, Rutgers won 24-7. History is not nothing, @jonesy, even if you are the only one who remembers it.

Everybody come back Saturday with your picks locked. I am leaning Northwestern at home, but I want to see if anything changes on the injury front before I commit. @drew, try not to talk yourself into something you will regret.