Prizing:

1st Place: $50 Amazon gift card

2nd-10th Place: $10 Starbucks gift card

Top 10 Winners:

1. anaay***@outlook.com (350 points)
2. Charlene Ledger (350 points)
3. Daryl Smith (350 points)
4. Drew Mckillips (350 points)
5. hawkweed***@aol.com (350 points)
6. Jon Vaughn (350 points)
7. robertmillw***@gmail.com (350 points)
8. Samuel Parker (350 points)
9. spunke***@aol.com (350 points)
10. Ty Broaddrick (350 points)

Overview:

On Saturday, December 3rd, at 8:00 P.M. the Wisconsin Badgers will take on the Penn State Nittany Lions in the BIG-10 Championship Game.

Mark May:

Mark is going against “The Crowd” predicting a final score of Penn State 24 – Wisconsin 17.

The Crowd:

“The Crowd” projects a final score of Wisconsin 26.4 – Penn State 25.5 with an over/under of 51.8.  The Vegas Line has a final score of Wisconsin 24.3 – Penn State 22.8 with an over/under of 47.0.

2016-17 Statistics (127 total teams):

Passing offense: Penn State 251.0 YPG > Wisconsin 179.6 YPG

Rushing offense: Wisconsin 201.5 YPG > Penn State 178.7 YPG

Scoring offense: Penn State 36.6 PPG > Wisconsin 28.5

Scoring defense: Wisconsin 13.7 PPG > Penn State 22.8 PPG

Passing defense: Wisconsin 191.3 YPG > Penn State 200.8 YPG

Rushing defense: Wisconsin 100.8 > Penn State 146.3 YPG

Turnover Margin Per Game: Wisconsin +0.8 > Penn State +0.4

Strength of schedule:

Penn State is (10-2) with wins over Kent State, Temple, Minnesota, Maryland, Ohio State, Purdue, Iowa, Indiana, Rutgers, and Michigan State.  Their losses came against Pittsburgh and Michigan.  Wisconsin is (10-2) with wins over LSU, Akron, Georgia State, Michigan State, Iowa, Nebraska, Northwestern, Illinois, Purdue, and Minnesota.  Their were defeated by Ohio State and Michigan.

Summary:

Penn State has won eight straight games while Wisconsin has won their last six.  Penn State has really hit their stride on offense averaging 46.4 points per game in their last five games.  Penn State will have to deal with a Wisconsin defense that has ranked as a top 5 unit all season long.  The Wisconsin defense has only allowed over 20 points one time all season.  The Badgers have the better resume as they only lost by seven points to Michigan and Ohio State.  Penn State was blown out by Michigan but that was early in the season.  I expect this game to be low-scoring with Wisconsin taking home the BIG-10 title.

**LISTEN HERE** to the latest edition of “The Berger Shop” podcast, sponsored by The Crowd’s Line.  This week’s episode features an in-depth discussion with Frank Isola of New York Daily News.

Note:

To be eligible to enter a Crowd’s Line contest you must be over 18 years of age, a resident of the United States/Canada, and submit your score prediction on our prediction tool (blog widget). The winner will be selected according to The Crowd’s Line scoring methodology.  If more than one entrant has the same winning score the winner will be selected by random drawing.  Only one prize will be awarded per contest and that winner will receive their prize in 5-7 business days.