Over/Under win totals: Looking at the Big Ten

With fall camp now under way all over the country, just weeks stand between the country and one of it’s favorite pastimes: gambling on unpaid student-athletes. This week, Rivals.com is taking a look at Vegas’ projected win total for each Power Five Conference program and ventures a guess on the over-under for the 12-game regular season. Today, we examine the Big Ten.

Sports gambling is illegal 49 states, so the following picks should be used for entertainment only. Unless, of course, you live in Nevada, in which case it’s totally cool to bet your children’s’ college tuition based on the halfwit advice imparted below.

RELATED: Over/Under in the ACC

Note: Win totals were taken from Betus.com. In the event that no total was listed on the site, the total was bulled from Bovada.lv.

OVER. This is a good number that will probably make things close, but Illinois has upgraded its talent. They have a few freshman that are capable of contributing. The Illini will be inexperienced, but do you really want a bunch of pieces from a 3-9 team back in the fold?

UNDER. Not going to pretend to know anything about Indiana football outside of the sudden offseason coaching change. There’s probably, like, a veteran guard or an undervalued running back … or something. I’m sure it’s all very thrilling.

OVER. Seven wins is the Iowa of win-total numbers. It’s not particularly memorable, but it’s certainly not awful. Your view of it depends on perspective. So, sure, why not? This is obviously a very scientific process. Having games with Ohio State and Penn State at home won’t hurt.

OVER. The Terrapins aren’t particularly talented, but four wins isn’t a giant ask. Maryland returns double-digit starters from last year's team. Non-conference games against UCF and Towson are winnable. Maryland could find a way past Minnesota as well. The conference schedule isn’t easy, but hosting both Rutgers and Indiana should inch the Terrapins closer to the magic number.

PUSH. Am I believer in Jim Harbaugh? Yes. I’m just not as certain as some that this is the year he wins a conference title. He won 10 regular season games a year ago and needed a bowl win to get to the mark the year before. This is one of the tougher totals on the list, so I’ll take the lazy out here.

OVER. Still not particularly sure what happened in East Lansing a year ago, but the Spartans have shed a bunch of starters from the disaster that was. Don’t expect 2017 to be a return to 10-win seasons, but last year feels like an outlier for a program that has never looked like that under Mark Dantonio.

UNDER. This total seems to count on some kind of P.J. Fleck factor, but it’s not clear how many wins nautical catch phrases are worth. The Gophers lost key pieces of what was a strong defense and finish the season with games against Iowa, Michigan, Nebraska, Northwestern and Wisconsin.

OVER. Nebraska could conceivably open the season 4-1 or even 5-0. A November stretch that sees consecutive games against Purdue, Northwestern and Minnesota should help get the Huskers over the seven-win hump.

OVER. Northwestern won six regular season games a year ago and there’s no reason to think it can’t improve by a game this year considering it returns a number of key pieces on both sides of the ball. The Wildcats avoid Ohio State and Michigan this year and closes out the season with three extremely winnable games with Purdue, Minnesota and Illinois.

UNDER. Ohio State is one of the best teams in America. The betting public is on the over, but 11-1 takes some luck no matter who you are. A home opener against Oklahoma could get interesting. Penn State and a game at Michigan await later in the year. Plus, I enjoy cuss words in my Twitter mentions.

UNDER. There are some strong teams at the top of the Big Ten, and the middle of the league will be better this year. Getting back to 10 regular-season wins is asking a lot for a team that has to get by Michigan and Ohio State in addition to the improved middle of the league.

UNDER. New coach, sure, but this is still a team that needed overtime to secure its lone Big Ten win a year ago. Non-conference games with Louisville and Missouri probably aren’t what this program needs at this juncture. The Boilermakers will need some breaks to get to three wins. And that’s a sad, sad sentence.

PUSH. Second-year head coach, but the Knights don’t have what anyone would confuse for a deep pool of talent. But there’s no way Rutgers can be as bad as it was a year ago, right? Right?

OVER. This number was as high as 10.5 earlier in the offseason, but has settled at a 9.5 for now. The Badgers have a soft schedule and return eight starters from a defense that helped will it to a Big Ten title game appearance a year ago.