Week 13 picks, preview: WMU visits EMU for high-stakes finale as MSU, Michigan hit the road

It’s a bit of a disjointed week with CMU off for a mini-MACtion bye before hosting Toledo to finish the season next Saturday and WMU and EMU gearing up for a Tuesday finale with massive stakes for WMU. 

But before WMU travels to Ypsilanti on Tuesday night, Michigan State and Michigan both hit the road this Saturday for penultimate games of their regular seasons. 

Both the Wolverines and Spartans are playing in the mid-afternoon slot, with MSU kicking off at Iowa at 3:30 p.m. ET and Michigan kicking off half an hour later at 4 p.m.

Picks went 5-0 (!) last week and are 35-13 on the season.

Michigan State at Iowa, 3:30 p.m., FS1/FOX streaming

The 2025 season has become a proposition about making 2026 better in East Lansing, as the Spartans won’t be making a bowl game sitting at 3-7 with two games to play. And the penultimate contest at Iowa this Saturday will test plenty of the Spartans’ weaknesses. Namely, Michigan State’s offensive line is going to have to find a way to hold up against a classically stout Iowa defensive front. 

Quarterback Alessio Milivojevic seems set to make his third start but has taken 12 sacks in his last two outings in the last two games. If the Spartans can’t protect him a little better and concurrently get the ground game clicking some, this could be a nonstarter offensive performance. Iowa ranks No. 81 nationally with 19 sacks on the year but is Top 20 in rushing defense while ranking No. 6 in total defense. It’s an uphill climb for a young and banged-up Spartan offense, and too much to overcome. 

The pick: Iowa 24, Michigan State 9

Michigan at Maryland, 4 p.m., BTN/FOX streaming

Michigan is a perplexing team in many ways. At 8-2, the Wolverines, for however unserious the playoff prospects might be, is in the mix for the College Football Playoff with two games to play and ranks favorably in many offensive and defensive metrics. The team is demonstrably better on offense than a year ago with a true freshman quarterback and a defense that continues to be one of the better ones in college football. But it’s just felt off for a few weeks, culminating with a near-disaster in a 24-22 win over Northwestern this past week. 

Maryland is doing it’s classic freefall through October and November but the Terrapins have a freshman quarterback of their own in Malik Washington and have given Michigan and other top-teams in the league trouble in recent years. That the Wolverines might be without Jordan Marshall to tote the rock with Justice Haynes out already is just another factor making this game tenuous. Michigan is a more talented team and should win, just like it did the past two games against Purdue and Northwestern. But like those two games, the Wolverines’ youth and inexperience put the Wolverines in danger of an upset. They need to avoid that this weekend against a Maryland team that has a dangerous offensive upside. 

The pick: Michigan 27, Maryland 17

Western Michigan at Eastern Michigan, 7:30 p.m. (Tues., Nov. 25), ESPN2/ESPN streaming

Two very different one-game seasons for the respective competitors here. For Western Michigan, it’s all about boiling down this season and goals into this outcome: A win gets WMU into the MAC title game. A loss puts the Broncos at the mercy of other results and tiebreakers. And Eastern Michigan, at 4-7, is sending out the seniors for their final game and trying to cap the year with a three-game win streak and play their best ball in November. 

Eastern Michigan’s defense finally caught up to the offense to create a winning recipe. The Eagles can get out to leads and then control the game behind solid offense and special teams now that the defense can hold its own. And while the EMU offense is one of the better outfits in the MAC, so if the Western Michigan defense. The Broncos have fearsome pass rushers led by Nadame Tucker and are starting to button down more and more in the secondary. And the offensive line is playing some of its best ball. EMU can keep this close, but WMU likely wins out on its edge on both lines of scrimmage. 

The pick: Western Michigan 23, Eastern Michigan 16