Illinois is coming into this game with a 5-1 record this season and they are also ranked as a top 25 team in the country. Their only loss this season was a 7 point loss at home to Marquette who is ranked in the top 4 right now and they have won their last 3 straight games since that loss. Illinois has not had a very tough schedule to start the season though as it has been riddled with teams much lesser in talent and their only real test so far was the game they lost at home to Marquette. Illinois has also played all 6 of their games at home this season with no road games and not even a neutral location game so this is actually their very 1st time playing away from home this year and they are going into a very hostile environment to play their 1st road game of the season. They are going up against a Rutgers team that is 5-1 this season and they have also been playing very well recently. They lost their 1st game of the season to Princeton at a neutral location and they have won their last 5 straight games since then. They have had a similar schedule as Illinois with a lot of weaker teams to play at home but Rutgers has also been very dominant in their last 3 games, winning all 3 by 10+ points as well as their last 2 by 20+ points in each. Rutgers is a very good team at home and their strong home advantage is going to come into play here with how good they have been playing recently, especially since this is Illinois' 1st road game of the season as well. Rutgers will cover the spread in this game.