All “Hat,” no battle?

Heading into the season, Northwestern (+7) at Illinois (6:30 p.m. Saturday, Fox 32, 720-AM, 890-AM) didn’t project as a difficult matchup to size up. The Wildcats were scrapping toward being competitive again, while the Illini were coming off a 10-win season and widely viewed as a College Football Playoff hopeful.

But the visitors are 6-5 and trending up, and the hosts are 7-4 and needing to hold on to the Land of Lincoln trophy — “the Hat,” as it’s known — just to feel OK about where they’re at.

“Nothing better than the last opportunity together,” Illini coach Bret Bielema said about the regular-season finale at Memorial Stadium.

Home field should matter. Quarterback Luke Altmyer should give the Illini an edge. But the weather — cold, with snow in the forecast — is a factor not to be overlooked, and it’s the Wildcats who run the football far more reliably, averaging 174 rushing yards per game. Their QB, Preston Stone, also happens to be the Big Ten’s reigning offensive player of the week, and terrific wide receiver Griffin Wilde is coming off an 11-catch game.

“We’re treating this as postseason play,” Northwestern coach David Braun said. “I know it’s the regular season, but we’re playing for a trophy.”

A battle, it shall be, but I’ve got the Illini eking it out 27-24.

And now, let’s get to what Week 14 is really about: the games — including “The Game” — that will shape the playoff picture heading into conference championship weekend. (All games Saturday unless otherwise noted.)

No. 7 Ole Miss (-7) at Mississippi State (11 a.m. Friday, ABC 7): The Rebels have won four of the last five Egg Bowl games, none by fewer than seven points. Dak Prescott isn’t running through that tunnel for the Bulldogs. Rebs by 10 and on to the CFP.

No. 4 Georgia (-14½) vs. No. 23 Georgia Tech (2:30 p.m. Friday, ABC 7): It’ll be a great scene at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta. They don’t call it Clean, Old-Fashioned Hate for nothing. Georgia wins but doesn’t cover.

No. 2 Indiana (-28½) at Purdue (6:30 p.m. Friday, NBC 5, Peacock): Boiler Up? Oh, stop. Hoosiers, 38-14.

No. 1 Ohio State (-10) at No. 15 Michigan (11 a.m., Fox 32): OSU has become a stand-alone superpower, better than everybody else, no ifs, ands or Bucknuts. Also true, insanely: Michigan, which has a real shot at joining the Buckeyes in the playoff if it springs a stop-the-presses upset, has won the last four games over its bitter rival. The edge between the ears is real — until it isn’t. Buckeyes by 14.

No. 12 Miami (-7) at No. 22 Pittsburgh (11 a.m., ABC 7): It’s win or forget the playoff for the Hurricanes. The Panthers still have a path if they take down the U and either SMU or Virginia loses, putting them in the ACC title game with a shot at an automatic bid. Upset? Almost. ’Canes by a kick.

No. 6 Oregon (-7) at Washington (2:30 p.m., CBS 2): The Huskies have won three of the last four, and five of the last nine, in this underrated series. The Ducks are more likely than not to be in the playoff even with a loss, but the pressure on them against a dangerous three-loss team in a supercharged environment will be extreme. Upset? Yep, I’m calling it, 31-30.

LSU (+10) at No. 8 Oklahoma (2:30 p.m., ABC 7): Tigers quarterback Michael Van Buren Jr., in for injured starter Garrett Nussmeier, has done just enough the last two games to squeak past Arkansas and Western Kentucky. If that prepared him for the Sooners’ monstrous defensive front, I can’t imagine how. The Sooners — their offense puzzlingly stuck in low gear, too — are cooked on the playoff front, though, if they go down here. OU, 24-13.

No. 14 Vanderbilt (+2½) at No. 19 Tennessee (2:30 p.m., ESPN): Vandy still has a fair-to-middling shot to be the last at-large in — the Volunteers have no shot — but the dream has to die at some point, doesn’t it? Take Rocky Top.

No. 10 Alabama (-6) at Auburn (6:30 p.m., ABC 7): Weird things happen in the Iron Bowl, and weird things are expected by many in this one. I dig weird — who doesn’t? — but I’m rolling with the Tide, 27-14.

No. 9 Notre Dame (-32½) at Stanford (9:30 p.m., ESPN): The playoff committee can’t get away with ranking the two-loss Irish any higher, but eyeballs know there aren’t eight better teams out there. Blowout, 38-7.

Last week: 6-1 straight-up, 4-3 against the spread.

Season to date: 65-26, 45-46.

EAST LANSING – Quindarius Dunnigan is lunging for the tape in a marathon college career.

To mark the finale of the Michigan State defensive lineman’s seven years in college, 15 family members were hitting the pavement for Thanksgiving and his last game – one van for the passengers and another for the luggage.

Following practice on Tuesday, Dunnigan was about 24 hours out from their arrival and preparing to host a group through the weekend. Despite all his growth split between Middle Tennessee State and the last two years at Michigan State, making holiday plans isn’t a strength.

“I have no idea,” Dunnigan, a Chattanooga native, said with a laugh before anticipating some competitive board games. “With it being cold, they ain’t going to want to go outside anyway so it will probably just be a whole lot of fireplace action, movies and stuff.”

The Spartans (3-8, 0-8 Big Ten) are heading into the end of a miserable season by facing Maryland (4-7, 1-7) at Ford Field in Detroit on Saturday (7 p.m., FS1). They’ve lost eight straight – the program’s longest losing streak in more than four decades – and are one defeat away from finishing winless in the Big Ten for the first time.

“All these games we’re playing, it’s bigger than the program, it’s bigger than us,” defensive lineman and Detroit native Jalen Thompson said, “so we’re just playing for the guys next to us, playing for our seniors.”

Michigan State’s last appearance at Ford Field ended in a 42-0 loss against Penn State to close the chaotic 2023 season a day before coach Jonathan Smith was hired. The Spartans return to Detroit amid more uncertainty about the direction of the program with athletic director J Batt still silent about Smith’s job status.

“I have no other way to look at it besides the way they’ve gone, call it the last month,” Smith said Monday of his team approaching the finale. “I totally anticipate that they’re going to bow up again, back to work tomorrow morning and come out flying around excited to play and finishing things right this Saturday.”

Although the brutal losing streak continues, the effort remains. Michigan State’s defense has upped its fight and a 20-17 loss at Iowa last week marked the second straight road defeat when leading with less than two minutes to play. Another game the Spartans were only a play or two from winning but couldn’t get it done.

Maryland is riding a seven-game losing streak but, unlike Smith, coach Mike Locksley received public support from Maryland athletic director Jim Smith for a ninth year with additional financial resources to build a roster. Smith and has staff remain in limbo.

“I think both programs are really hungry for a win,” offensive coordinator Brian Lindgren said, “to take some momentum into the offseason.”

Defensive coordinator Joe Rossi, whose midseason move from the booth to the sideline helped spark that side of the ball, quickly dismissed a mention of Saturday’s game as a matchup between two teams with 15 combined losses.

“I get to coach Wayne Matthews one last time – that’s a big deal to me,” Rossi said. of one of the seniors. “Grady Kelly, Malik (Spencer), Sam Edwards, Quindarius Dunnigan, Malcolm Bell, Joshua Eaton – I get to coach those guys one more time. That’s what I’m excited about.”