You don’t always want to use polls or rankings in your handicapping, but sometimes they can be telling.

Eastern Michigan, a middle-of-the-road team in the Mid-American Conference, is coming off a 38-17 loss to the SEC’s Kentucky in which quarterback Mike Glass threw for 337 yards. That’s certainly nothing to be embarrassed about as Kentucky is ranked No. 34 in the nation by the respected Sagarin Ratings.

Illinois, expected to be among the worst the Big Ten has to offer, is 2-0 on the young season, struggled to beat lowly regarded Connecticut 31-23 last week, failing to cover as a 20-point favorite. UConn is No. 139 in the Sagarin Ratings, which is pretty bad when you consider there are only 130 Division I-A (FBS) programs. There are 24 FCS teams ranked ahead of the Huskies.

Illinois is No. 86 while EMU is No. 93 with just a 2.5-point difference. Illinois doesn’t have much of a home-field advantage, so I don’t see how this line should be a full touchdown or higher. And EMU is taking a step down in class while Illinois is taking a step up.

The play: Eastern Michigan, +7.