The new landscape of the Big Ten Conference will create fresh rivalries with a natural feel. The clash between the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Minnesota Golden Gophers is one such encounter.
Nebraska Cornhuskers @ Minnesota Golden Gophers – Saturday, October 22
Sports betting line: Nebraska -24.5
Why Nebraska Will Win
Legions of college football betting experts are cautiously looking at this game, studying it and probing it to see if it’s a mirage, or if a Minnesota ambush is about to happen. Is this game too good to be true, or will it actually unfold the way a logical human person would expect it to unfold? The quick skinny on this contest is that Nebraska should absolutely drill Minnesota, running the Golden Gophers out of TCF Bank Stadium. Nebraska is not a complete team; the Huskers’ passing game is limited, and what’s more is that their defense has been incredibly disappointing this season. Yet, for all of the Huskers’ deficiencies, the point remains that Minnesota is an extremely bad football squad. The Golden Gophers are in rebuilding mode after the disastrous tenure of former coach Tim Brewster. New coach Jerry Kill has inherited a club with a shocking lack of natural talent, and an equally conspicuous lack of depth up and down the roster. Minnesota has been flatly annihilated in recent weeks, losing 58-0 to Michigan and then, in a more worrisome development, absorbing a 45-17 loss to a genuinely bad Purdue side. What’s puzzling about the Gophers is that they put up a real good fight in week one of the season, losing 19-17 to USC in Los Angeles. After that game, however, the Gophers have ceased to be competitive on any reasonable scale. This is a program that has fallen off the grid (and the gridiron), and so Nebraska – despite being a very flawed team – should frolic to its heart’s content this weekend in Minneapolis.
Why Minnesota Will Win
When you wonder how your sportsbook review will take shape on the matter of Huskers-Gophers, do realize: This is not going to be a repeat of the game from the early 1980s when one of Nebraska’s best and most lethal offenses rang up 84 points against Minnesota in a non-conference clash. Now, the calculus is different. Minnesota will be revved up to welcome the Huskers into the Great North. The Golden Gophers are likely to empty the grab bag of trick plays and use all sorts of maneuvers to fool Nebraska’s defense. What’s more is that it’s entirely possible to fool Nebraska’s defense. The Huskers have prided themselves on their “Blackshirt Defense” over the years, but this year, Nebraska has been poor when trying to stop opponents. Ohio State’s miserable offense scored 27 points against the Huskers. Fresno State scored 29 – in Lincoln, Nebraska. The Huskers have so many issues on defense, and Minnesota might be able to exploit those issues on one night. That’s all it takes.
Who Will Win
Minnesota is a bad, bad football team. Nebraska is not particularly good, but everyone will feast on the Gophers over the remainder of the 2011 season.
College Football Betting Pick: Nebraska