Rutgers Football was able to get back on track with a lopsided victory against Wagner. The Scarlet Knights will hit the road once again as it heads to Madison to take on Wisconsin in Week 6.

Rutgers has been strong against the spread this season. Can it keep it close against a Big Ten West power? Below, take a look at some recent trends between both Rutgers and Wisconsin from this season.

POINT SPREAD

Rutgers enters this contest as a two-touchdown underdog. The Scarlet Knights will be dogs for the second time this season and getting 14 from Wisconsin.

The Scarlet Knights are 4-1 on the season and 4-0-1 ATS. They were favored in each of the first three games against lesser opponents and covered the spread each time. Rutgers also handled Wagner and put up a lopsided score that went over the spread of 47.5. Against Michigan, Rutgers was a 24-point underdog and scored the first touchdown of the game. The defense held in just long enough to push the spread with a final of 31-7.

Wisconsin is 3-1 straight-up but just 1-2-1 ATS. The Badgers have turned in unimpressive performances against Buffalo and Georgia Southern (push) with a loss to Washington State sandwiched in between. Wisconsin continues to be one of the favorites in the Big Ten West but some believe the Badgers have not hit their stride just yet. Will this allow Rutgers to slide in for a potential upset?

TOTAL

The total for this contest is set at 46.5. For Rutgers, the point total has been difficult to predict because of the state of the offense.

The Scarlet Knights came into the season with question marks on the offensive side of the ball. There were some points scored against the likes of Temple and Virginia Tech but can it be done against stronger, Big Ten competition?

Rutgers has played two games over the total while three have gone under. Over the first two games of the season, Rutgers allowed just seven points leading to two unders. The tables turned against Michigan as the. Scarlet Knights just scored seven allowing a low total on the scoreboard.

Wisconsin has split four games in terms of over and under. This will be the lowest total for a Badger game to this point. In both games that have gone over the number, Wisconsin has scored 38 points to carry the load. In both unders, the umbers were high (65, 57.5) and they could not get there.

The number here is low considering the offensive expectations for Rutgers against a strong defense in Madison. Also, the Scarlet Knight defense has held its own this season as well.

VERDICT

While fans might be getting some excitement and hope around this Rutgers team, it is hard to trust them on the road against a team like Wisconsin. It would be surprising to see the Scarlet Knights win this game but if you think they can keep it close, take the points but proceed with caution.

The under seems like the play here. Wisconsin is not playing up to its full potential to this point and Rutgers has figured it out defensively. On the other hand, there are still questions marks offensively and that is not a good sign against a strong front in Wisconsin. The number might be set low but both teams can play this game in the 20s, or even less, on Saturday afternoon.