Northwestern Wildcats vs Purdue Boilermakers CFB Betting Preview— 8/30/18

College football action on Thursday evening and a pair of teams from the Big 10 Conference will square off as the Northwestern Wildcats take on the Purdue Boilermakers. This game will take place at Ross-Ade Stadium in West Lafayette, Indiana at 8:00 PM ET. These teams met last year and Northwestern won at home by a score of 23-13.

Lines: Purdue -1.5… Over/Under 53

Game Analysis

The Wildcats went 10-3 last year and have 14 starters back from that team. They are the 3rd most experienced team in the Big 12 and they have the 5th most returning lettermen (61) in the nation. Returning at quarterback is senior Clayton Thorson, who threw for 2844 yards and 15 TDs last year. He had 12 INTs and will need to clean up the mistakes this year. Their top two receivers back, but the receiving corps as a whole is just very average. The running game must replace 1300-yard back Justin Jackson, but Jeremy Larkin had 503 yards rushing last year and is ready to be to step up. The offensive line has four of five starters back and rates as 5th best in the league. The Cats will really to rely on their defense and it will be a good one. The Cats have seven starters back from a team that allowed just 20.1 ppg a year ago. The line rates as 13th in the nation, while the linebackers are 18th. They are the 2nd best team in the Big 10 West, but they have to be careful as the Boilers did make it to a bowl game and could be in line for on this year as well.     

Purdue had just nine wins in the four years with Darrell Hazell as the head coach. Last year, Jeff Brohm took over and led the Boilermakers to their first bowl game since 2012. Purdue returns nine starters to an offense that put up 25.2 ppg a season ago. Elijah Sindelar is the quarterback after throwing for 2099 yards and 16 TDs in 2017. His top two targets are gone and this is one of the worst receiver corps in the league. The running game is in far better shape with their top five backs from a year ag all returning. They should come close to last year’s numbers on offense. The defense is where they will really struggle as they have just four starters back on that side of the ball. They return just 43.2% of their tackles, which is 123rd in the nation. They allowed just 20.5 ppg last year, but with their losses on this side of the ball, they could allow a TD or more per game this year. Still, they will not be taking on a good offense in this one and that gives them a chance. The real question will be whether their offense will be able to move the ball on a tough Northwestern defense.   

Trends

Northwestern Is:

19-7 ATS in their last 26 conference games

7-1 ATS in their last 8 games overall

The Over is 4-0-1 in their last 5 road games

The Under is 41-17-1 in their last 59 games on grass

Purdue Is:

4-1 ATS in their last 5 home games

4-1 ATS in their last 5 games overall

The Over is 14-6 in their last 20 games on grass

The Under is 6-1 in their last 7 conference games