The Nebraska Cornhuskers play host to the Iowa Hawkeyes Friday afternoon as the Cornhuskers look to end their first season in the Big Ten on a high note. See where our handicappers are placing theircollege football picks.
College football pick on Nebraska as they take on Iowa set to start at
Noon ET. Many prognosticators had expected Nebraska to win the Legends division
of the Big-Ten despite it being the first full season in the Big-Ten
Conference. The style of play is vastly different between the Big-12 and Big-10
and Nebraska has been largely inconsistent in light of that fact. However, I
believe they have had a strong first season and a dominating win over Iowa will serve to improve their bowl position.
Nebraska is coming off a surprising and embarrassing 45-17
blowout loss at Michigan in a game where
they were installed as 4 ½ point dogs. Iowa is coming off an impressive 31-21
win at Purdue and covered the skinny 1 ½ point line. Iowa can also improve
their bowl position with an upset win, but playing in Lincoln for the first
time is just too much to overcome for the Hawkeyes.
The Nebraska Cornhuskers program has played on the road against Wisconsin, Minnesota,
Penn State, and Michigan; all venues where not even their coaches have played before. This adjustment takes a while to get used to. The same can be said for those Big-Ten schools traveling to Lincoln, NE for
the first time. Playing at Memorial Stadium is equally as intimating and
hostile for a visiting team as any Big Ten Stadium.
Player Comments
Once in a while, I find a player or group of players speaking
from the heart and this week Nebraska wide receiver Tim Marlowe takes the spotlight this week. He stated that, “We play for us, we play for our team, we play for
our coaches, our families, and the state of Nebraska. We have a lot of pride.
We still have a chance to win 10 games. We have a great Iowa team coming in. We
hope to beat them, get to a good bowl game and hopefully end the year 10-3.”
That statement speaks great volumes about how Nebraska will
play hard in this game and will not lie down without a fight. The concerns about the team not having
anything significant to play for after being eliminated from winning the
Legends division are grossly exaggerated.
NCAA Betting Odds
The college football betting lines for this game opened with Nebraska installed as a 10 ½ point betting odds favorite over Iowa. For reasons mentioned above, the betting flows have
been supporting Iowa significantly more than Nebraska and the line has declined
to 9 ½ at most sportsbooks. I expect that you will see the line move to Nebraska favored
by 9 points between now and game time, so my suggestion is to be patient and
look for the flows to continue pushing this line modestly lower.
The opening total for this game was posted at 53 ½ -110 and has
remained static since. There are a few 54 point totals sprouting up at some of
the shops, but I do not see any reason for additional line movements.
Game Situation Favoring
Nebraska
There may be a silver lining to last week’s horrid
loss to Michigan where Nebraska lost the turnover battle too. Nebraska has
shown a strong resiliency in these situations and sports a 16-4
ATS making 11.6 units per on unit wagered in home games after a game with a
turnover margin of -2 or worse since 1992.
My Pick: Take Nebraska.