Western Illinois vs Indiana Prediction College Football Picks 9/6/24

-Recent Betting trends and streaks involving Western Illinois

-Recent Betting trends and streaks involving Indiana

-Recent betting trends in games played between Western Illinois and Indiana

-A summary that ties it all together and produces a favorable betting outcome for Today’s Game between the Leathernecks and Hoosiers. 

Western Illinois Defense is a Problem

The Western Illinois Leathernecks defense is a major issue and that proved to be the case in the first game of the season against Northern Illinois. Western Illinois scored only 15 points while the defense gave up 54 points. The defense gave up 28 points in the 2nd quarter. They couldn’t come back from that. Nate Lamb completed 17 of his 29 passes for 204 yards and a touchdown. Running back Cameron Smith did have a strong game, completing 17 of his 29 passes for 204 yards and one touchdown. 

The defense was especially bad through the air as they allowed Ethan Hampton to complete 18 of his 30 passes for 328 yards and five touchdowns. The offense will need to be better, but if they want any chance in this game the defense has to find a way to make some stops. It’s not going to get any easier this week. 

Indiana Dominated the First Game

Indiana expects to be better this season and if the first game is any indication, they can be good. Indiana scored 71 points while the defense gave up seven and that was enough for the comfortable victory. At the end of the first quarter, they were up 14-0 and they never looked back. Under center for Indiana was Kurtis Rourke and he completed 15 of his 24 passes for 180 yards, one touchdown, and zero interceptions.

The top running back was Elijah Green and he finished with five carries for 82 yards and a touchdown. On defense, Indiana really stepped up, especially against the run. The top rusher for FIU only had 36 yards, and they are going to need the defense to step up again here. They also were able to secure one interception, and a turnover or two here would really help the team out. Anything less than 45 points by the offense would be a major disappointment. Indiana will meet UCLA and Charlotte after this game.

Western Illinois vs Indiana Prediction

This game is going to be high-scoring. Western Illinois is clearly awful, and Indiana is going to take advantage. Rourke is going to continue to sling the rock around, and Western Illinois is going to have no answer with the defense. I do expect Western Illinois is going to find a little bit more offensive success though, and that will be the difference here. Indiana is going to get close to this number by themselves and this game is going to end up over the total. This is the top play of Friday.