Rutgers vs Northwestern prediction, game preview, how to watch: Saturday, October 16
Rutgers vs Northwestern How To Watch
Date: Saturday, October 16
Game Time: 12:00 ET
Venue: Ryan Field, Evanston, IL
How To Watch: BTN
Record: Rutgers (3-3), Northwestern (2-3)
– Sign up and live stream college football on ESPN+
[mm-video type=playlist id=01f1343a1wt7q817p7 player_id=none image=https://collegefootballnews.com/wp-content/plugins/mm-video/images/playlist-icon.png]
– All of the CFN Fearless Predictions
Rutgers vs Northwestern Game Preview
Why Rutgers Will Win
Rutgers is in desperate need of a breather after dealing with Michigan, Ohio State, and Michigan State.
Northwestern will be fresh air.
It’s all a work in progress for the Scarlet Knight team that’s got a whole lot of nice parts, but it doesn’t have the explosion to keep up when the other side gets into an offensive groove.
The defense is decent enough, it’s great on third downs, and overall, the team – usually – doesn’t beat itself, the Ohio State game aside.
Meanwhile, Northwestern did a complete about-face from its 2020 version.
The defensive front can’t do anything to get into the backfield, there are too many turnovers, there’s NOTHING happening against the run – at least against the decent teams – overall, the team can’t control the clock or the tempo like it needs to. However …
– Week 7 CFN College Football Expert Picks
Why Northwestern Will Win
Rutgers isn’t getting enough out of its offensive line.
The offense isn’t going to get on the field and put up 21 in a blink, and it’s going to have to manufacture ways to generate points.
After two weeks off to contemplate its place in the Big Ten world after getting annihilated by Nebraska, Northwestern has to start by not turning the ball over.
To be fair to the run defense, it couldn’t stop Michigan State or Nebraska – at all – and it was still in the Duke game late despite the overall defensive struggles. Again, Rutgers doesn’t have the offense to hit the 500-yard mark to run away with this, but …
– Week 7 College Football Schedule, Predictions, Game Previews
What’s Going To Happen
Northwestern really, really doesn’t have the offense to do this.
Rutgers got down fast against Ohio State, and Michigan State kept hitting bombs last week – that’s not the Wildcat offense at all.
Basically, both teams need to play a low-scoring game that comes down to defense, doing the little things right, and manufacturing a few key plays and then taking advantage of the opportunities.
Rutgers does that better.
Rutgers vs Northwestern Prediction, Line
Rutgers 23, Northwestern 20
Line: Rutgers -2, o/u: 45
ATS Confidence out of 5: 3
Must See Rating: 2.5
5: Caramel apple anything
1: Pumpkin spice anything
[protected-iframe id=”361699434b6d70baf15f631ed2408ac1-97672683-92922408″ info=”https://www.googletagservices.com/tag/js/gpt.js” ]
– Fearless Predictions of Every Game
– Bowl Projections | Rankings