Wednesday's Michigan State vs. Penn State game will be one of the more interesting conference battles of the night. The Spartans may be red-hot right now but if Penn State gets Ace Baldwin Jr. back for this one, anything could happen.
Michigan State is riding a nine-game winning streak while Penn State is a loser of three in a row to Indiana, Illinois, and Oregon. This is one of the toughest stretches any Big Ten team has faced this season. The Nittany Lions began the season 12-2 before this recent three-game losing streak and it felt like they might surprise some teams in the Big Ten -- they even beat Purdue.
But they've since fallen on hard times thanks to a brutal schedule and the injury to Baldwin Jr.
The Spartans have remained healthy to this point outside of a Nick Sanders injury (knock on wood) and they will be looking to improve to 15-2 on the year and 6-0 in conference play.
Vegas released its odds ahead of the matchup and some might be led to believe that they are much tighter than they should be. The spread is, in fact, slightly tighter than I would have expected but it makes sense when you consider Baldwin might be back and the Nittany Lions are playing with nothing to lose while Michigan State might get caught looking ahead to Illinois.
Michigan State vs. Penn State betting odds
Spread: Michigan State -11.5
Over/Under: 153.5
Moneyline: Michigan State -750 | Penn State +525
As you can see, Vegas thinks this one could be closer than expected which is surprising given the fact that the Spartans have beaten four of their five Big Ten opponents by 10-plus points.
This game will be close for a half, in my opinion, but Michigan State's depth will be too much for Penn State on the road and the Spartans will suffocate the Nittany Lions like they've done to countless other opponents this season.
I see Michigan State winning by somewhere in the 15-20-point range.