Week 8 viewing guide: Breaking down/predicting Michigan vs. Illinois, plus other key games from around the country

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After a week off, Michigan football is back. And the stakes are high, as Michigan returns and hits the road to play in one of the weekend’s three ranked vs. ranked matchups, joining Bama-Tennessee and Georgia-Texas.

Those are three big matchups this weekend, but there are plenty more games worth keeping tabs on, too. Just like every week, I’ll be providing the following in this viewing guide:

• My breakdown and prediction (both straight and against the spread) of Michigan’s game

• My choices for the three biggest Big Ten games of the week that don’t involve Michigan, including predictions straight and against the spread

• My choices for the three biggest non-Big Ten games of the weekend, including predictions straight and against the spread

• Rapid-fire predictions for all other Big Ten games, both straight and against the spread.

Here are how my picks have performed through the first half of the season:

2024 results

Michigan games

• Straight: 6-0

• Against the spread: 4-2

B1G games

• Straight: 65-16

• Against the spread: 43-37-1

Overall

• Straight: 83-16

• Against the spread: 57-40-2

I’ll also be throwing in some highlights from Thursday’s premium subscriber Q&A at the end of this newsletter.

So let’s stop talking and let’s start doing. My viewing guide can be viewed in full below the paywall jump 👇.