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The Illinois Fighting Illini and Rutgers Scarlet Knights are set to square off in a Big Ten battle at noon ET on Saturday at Memorial Stadium. The Fighting Illini are 3-5 overall and 2-3 at home, while Rutgers is 3-4 overall and 1-3 on the road. Rutgers joined the Big Ten in 2014 and the two programs have gone head-to-head in every season since 2016 with Illinois taking four of five matchups.

The Fighting Illini have also covered the in four of those five meetings but both teams have been profitable against the spread this season with Illinois at 4-3-1 and Rutgers at 4-3. This time around, the Scarlett Knights are favored by 1.5 points in the latest Illinois vs. Rutgers odds from Caesars Sportsbook and the over-under is set at 41.5. Before entering any Rutgers vs. Illinois picks, you need to see the college football predictions and betting advice from the red-hot computer simulation model at SportsLine.

The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every FBS college football game 10,000 times. Over the past five-plus years, the proprietary computer model has generated a stunning profit of almost $3,900 for $100 players on its top-rated college football picks against the spread. It also enters Week 9 of the 2021 season on a 26-11 run on all top-rated college football side picks. Anyone who has followed it has seen huge returns.

Now, the model has set its sights on Illinois vs. Rutgers and just revealed its picks and predictions. You can head to SportsLine now to see all of the model's picks. Here are several college football odds and betting lines for Illinois vs. Rutgers:

  • Illinois vs. Rutgers spread: Rutgers -1.5
  • Illinois vs. Rutgers over-under: 41.5 points

What you need to know about Illinois

The Fighting Illini are coming off a stunning 20-18 upset of Penn State last week that took nine overtimes. Illinois absolutely pounded Penn State on the ground, rushing for 357 yards on the day. Chase Brown carried the ball 33 times for 223 yards and a touchdown while Josh McCray had 24 carries for 142 yards.

Meanwhile, the Illinois defense held the Nittany Lions to just 227 yards of total offense. The Fighting Illini had four sacks on the day and in addition to applying pressure, the front seven bottled up the Penn State running game. The Nittany Lions carried the ball 29 times for just 62 yards. Illinois is now 3-1-1 in its last five games against the spread.

What you need to know about Rutgers

Rutgers got off to a 3-0 start this season with a blowout of Temple to kick off the new year and then a hard-fought win over Syracuse on the books. However, it's lost its last four games since Big Ten play started and has failed to cover the spread in each of the last three.

After limiting its first four opponents to 275 yards or less, the Rutgers defense is allowing 514.3 yards per game over its last three contests. Greg Schiano's team will need to rally around Olakunle Fatukasi to stop the bleeding defensively. The fifth-year senior leads Rutgers with 67 total tackles and 9.5 tackles for loss.

How to make Rutgers vs. Illinois picks

The model has simulated Illinois vs. Rutgers 10,000 times and the results are in. We can tell you that the model is leaning over on the point total and it's also generated a point-spread pick that is hitting in almost 60 percent of simulations. You can only see the model's Illinois vs. Rutgers pick at SportsLine.

So who wins Illinois vs. Rutgers? And which side of the spread hits almost 60 percent of the time? Visit SportsLine now to find out, all from the model that has crushed its college football picks, and find out.