Illinois is coming into this game with a 7-3 record this season and they are 4-3 in the conference. They were playing great at the start of the season, but now they have lost 2 of their last 3 games and have not been playing as well. They lost on the road against Oregon and also lost at home to Minnesota. They are coming off of a 38-16 win at home against Michigan State in their last game, but Michigan State has been one of the weaker teams in the conference all year. Illinois does not have a great offense this season and even in their recent games, they have scored 21 points or less in 3 of their last 4 as well as scoring 17 points or less in 2 of their last 3 games. They are going up against a Rutgers team that is 6-4 this season and they are 3-4 in the conference. Rutgers also got off to a hot start this season and hit a rough patch with 4 straight losses to Nebraska, Wisconsin, UCLA, and USC, but they have bounced back and have been playing much better in their last 2 games. They have won their last 2 straight against Minnesota and Maryland and their defense has been much better as they have allowed under 20 points in both of those games. Their offense has also been much better over their last 4 games as they have scored 20+ points in all 4 games and have scored 30+ points in 2 of those. Rutgers has been running the ball well all season as they average 169.4 rushing yards per game and 4.4 yards per carry so they are going to have success on the ground at home when Illinois is allowing 147.3 rushing yards per game and 4.4 yards per carry. Kaliakmanis has also been throwing the ball a lot better in their last 2 games, including a game against a very good Minnesota defense, and this Illinois defense has been much worse on the road as well. Illinois is averaging 20.6 points allowed per game this season, but 7 of their games have been at home where they allow 17.5 points on average compared to their 3 road games which they have averaged 27.7 points allowed per game, allowing no less than 21 points in any of those games. Rutgers will cover the spread in this game.