A Big Ten battle is on tap between the Northwestern Wildcats and the Illinois Fighting Illini at noon ET on Saturday at Memorial Stadium. Illinois is 6-5 overall and 3-3 at home, while Northwestern is 2-9 overall and 0-4 on the road. Illinois has covered its last six games in a row against the spread while Northwestern is 0-4-2 during that span. However, recent head-to-head history has favored Northwestern. They've won and covered three of the last four battles for the Land of Lincoln Trophy. But it's the Fighting Illini that are favored by 8.5 points in the latest Illinois vs. Northwestern odds, while the over-under is set at 41.5. Before entering any Northwestern vs. Illinois picks, you'll want to see the college football predictions from the model at SportsLine.

The SportsLine Projection Model simulates every FBS college football game 10,000 times, and those who have followed it have seen huge returns since its inception. Over the past four-plus years, the proprietary computer model has generated a stunning profit of almost $4,000 for $100 players on its top-rated college football picks against the spread. Anyone who has followed it over that time is way up.

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

Illinois came up short against Iowa last week, falling 19-10. No individual had a big game offensively for the Fighting Illini, but they got one touchdown from quarterback Brandon Peters. On a positive note, the Illinois defense seemed to make dramatic improvement stopping the run after struggling throughout Big Ten play. The Illini allowed just 79 rushing yards to Iowa with Dele Harding leading the way with 12 tackles. Harding has been all over the field for Illinois this season, with 128 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss, three interceptions. two fumble recoveries, two forced fumbles and two defensive touchdowns. Northwestern will have to account for the senior linebacker on every play on Saturday.

Meanwhile, Northwestern lost to Minnesota 38-22 last week. Despite the loss, Northwestern got a solid performance out of backup quarterback Andrew Marty, who rushed for 52 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries and also completed 8-of-10 passes for 95 yards and another touchdown to breathe a little life into what has been a stagnant offense all season. Marty had to come on for Hunter Johnson early in the game and will be granted his first career start on Saturday against Illinois.

So who wins Northwestern vs. Illinois? And which side of the spread hits 60 percent of the time? Visit SportsLine right now to see which side of the spread you need to jump on, all from the computer model that has crushed its college football picks.