Saunders Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 2016 Game 8 “Expert” Picks: Nebraska at Wisconsin (-8.5) ————— CollegeFootballNews.com http://collegefootballnews.com/2016/nebraska-wisconsin-game-preview-prediction-line-tv Why Nebraska Is Going To WinThe defensive front might not be full of household superstars, but it’s been one of the biggest keys to the season. Expected to be a major weakness, considering the key personnel losses and the lack of depth, the Husker D line has been terrific, especially against the run. The Oregon attack might have worked, but the front seven has been eating up just about everything else, with no one other than the Ducks taking off for more than 140 yards on the ground. Oregon ran for five scores, but even though the Huskers faced Wyoming’s Brian Hill, Indiana’s Devine Redding, and Northwestern’s Justin Jackson, they’ve only allowed four touchdown runs in the other six games. Offensively, Tommy Armstrong continues to be solid. He might not be spectacular, but he’s been a rock throwing for 200 yards or more in every game but the opener against Fresno State – he wasn’t needed – while still doing a nice job of taking off when needed. But he’s not going to run much against this Badger front seven – running quarterbacks don’t fly against the group. However, as Michigan showed, you beat Wisconsin by going vertical and testing the secondary time and again to open up everything else. There’s a good chance that top target Jordan Westerkamp will be back after missing the last two games with a back problem. If he’s okay, all of a sudden the Huskers have their all-star home run hitter back after averaging close to 18 yards per catch over the first five games. Why Wisconsin Is Going To WinNebraska’s offense is okay, but it’s just not good enough. Even with Westerkamp back, this isn’t an explosive attack, playing right into Wisconsin’s hands. The line is doing a solid job overall, and the running game has been effective, but the team lives on keeping the chains moving and controlling the time of possession and tempo. That’s not going to happen against this defense. The Badger D is out of this world on third downs, allowing offenses to convert just 25% of their chances. The only offense to hit more than 31% of their tries was Ohio State, and it struggled way too much throughout the first half. Nebraska won’t get enough manageable third down situations and should have to press. Defensively, yeah, the Huskers have been terrific against the run, but this is a different Wisconsin offense after the week off before the Ohio State game. All of a sudden, Corey Clement is looking a half-step quicker and a whole lot stronger in a workhorse mode, carrying the ball 70 times for 298 yards and a score – and almost another, before he fumbled the ball against Iowa reaching out for the goal line – over the last two weeks. The line has been more physical, the offense crisper, and the yards are coming, but … What’s Going To Happen?Can the Badgers close? They got away with missed kicks and mistakes inside the red zone, while Nebraska defense has done a solid job when its back is against the wall – it’s red zone D has been good enough. This is the type of Husker team that seems to know how to figure it out. It was able to rev it up in a shootout against Oregon, and it was able to grind it down in wins over Northwestern and Indiana. It’s good enough to keep this close, but it’ll stall on too many key drives. Wisconsin will get the win after the defense clamps down in the second half, but both teams will run the clock and each offense should be relatively error free. This should be a good, hard-nosed Big Ten game with the Badgers finally breathing easily in the fourth quarter, setting up a showdown for the West title at Northwestern next week. Wisconsin 26 - Nebraska 16 (Part 2) http://collegefootballnews.com/2016/week-9-college-football-expert-picks-predictions Fiu - W Russ - W Rich - W Phil - W Crow - N Con - W Dave - W Jere - W Chris - N Schmo - W ————— BTN.com http://btn.com/2016/10/26/polls-its-time-to-pick-your-week-9-big-ten-football-winners-2/ Tom Dienhart: Wisconsin 24 - Nebraska 10 Brent Yarina: Wisconsin 23 - Nebraska 16 ————— CBSSports.com http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/features/writers/expert/picks/straight-up/9 Dennis Dodd - W* Jon Solomon - W* Jerry Palm - W Tom Fornelli - W* Robby Kalland - W* Ben Kercheval - W* Chip Patterson - W* ————— Big Red Wrap-Up http://netnebraska.org/interactive-multimedia/sports/big-red-wrap-wisconsin-prediction-3 Kevin Kugler: Wisconsin 24 - Nebraska 21 Blake Lawrence: Wisconsin 23 - Nebraska 17 Sean Callahan: Nebraska 19 - Wisconsin 17 ————— Daily Nebraskan http://www.dailynebraskan.com/sports/football-score-predictions-nebraska-vs-purdue/article_e31a03fc-95a2-11e6-bd94-33e68aeb846b.html Bret Nierengarten: Wisconsin 23 - Nebraska 13 Riley Bowden: Wisconsin 20 - Nebraska 14 Michael Dixon: Wisconsin 23 - Nebraska 13 ————— Associated Press Picks http://collegefootball.ap.org/article/college-football-picks-ohio-state-rooting-michigan The Huskers are 1-5 on the road against ranked teams since joining the Big Ten in 2011. Nebraska 23 - Wisconsin 20. ————— Athlon Sports http://athlonsports.com/college-football/predictions-every-college-football-game-week-9-2016 Steven Lassan: W Mitch Light: W Bryan Fischer: W Jim Weber: W ————— ESPN Big Ten Blog http://www.espn.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/138076/week-9-b1g-game-picks-will-huskers-remain-undefeated Brian Bennet: Wisconsin 21 - Nebraska 13 Josh Moyer: Wisconsin 21 - Nebraska 20 Dan Murphy: Wisconsin 14 - Nebraska 10 Jesse Temple: Wisconsin 20 - Nebraska 17 Austin Ward: Wisconsin 17 - Nebraska 14 ————— ESPN FPI http://www.espn.com/college-football/game?gameId=400869683 Wisconsin 69.3% Win ————— FootballStudyHall http://www.footballstudyhall.com/2016/10/26/13427556/college-football-week-9-schedule-tv-listings-projections-picks S&P+: Wisconsin 28.6 - Nebraska 20.6 (UW 67.8% win probability) F+: Wisconsin by 7.9 ————— FEI Projections http://www.bcftoys.com/2016-game-projections/ Wisconsin 27 - Nebraska 16 ————— 3 Quote Link to comment
Redux Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 Crow, Chris, Benning and AP are cool. The rest can suck an egg. Quote Link to comment
trouble Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 Shocking. Watch when NU wins everybody will downplay this win as Wiscy just isnt that good either. I'd rather NU be an underdog. Have a chip on thier shoulder with something to prove. Quote Link to comment
Redux Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 Shocking. Watch when NU wins everybody will downplay this win as Wiscy just isnt that good either. I'd rather NU be an underdog. Have a chip on thier shoulder with something to prove. No if Wiscy wins it will be because they played the toughest schedule and it caught up with them. It will also make them a 3 loss team which is hard to rank a team at........unless you have an SEC logo on your field. Quote Link to comment
VectorVictor Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 Shocking. Watch when NU wins everybody will downplay this win as Wiscy just isnt that good either. I'd rather NU be an underdog. Have a chip on thier shoulder with something to prove. No if Wiscy wins it will be because they played the toughest schedule and it caught up with them. It will also make them a 3 loss team which is hard to rank a team at........unless you have an SEC logo on your field. Quote Link to comment
NUance Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 I would LOVE to see the Huskers win because, well, I'm a Husker fan. But it would be an added bonus to prove 90% of the experts wrong. Yeah, that would be sweet! Quote Link to comment
BIGREDIOWAN Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 Not surprised, time will tell who's right here. Quote Link to comment
I am I Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 The only thing that worries me is that Wisc has played title contenders. They know what it looks like to play top talent and at that speed. I just hope we don't look slow and out of position since we haven't seen top end speed since Oregon. We need a fast start Nebraska 24 Wisc 20 Quote Link to comment
grandpasknee Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 I'm going with fate over favorite. Wisky may be the favorite, for lots of good reasons. But I think fate plays a bigger part this game. The kind of fate that just has everything go our way, even if we don't properly deserve it. We play a full, intelligent game. Fumbles, interceptions, broken plays that could absolutely kill us instead work to our benefit. Both teams have injuries, but for some reason, it hurts the worse than it hurts us. A couple of those "if you did that 100 times, it would go Wisconsin's way 99" events that go our way. The kind of win that leaves both teams and fan bases shaking their heads and uttering "wow!", in disbelief. Quote Link to comment
Saunders Posted October 27, 2016 Author Share Posted October 27, 2016 FOX Sports, Stewart Mandel Wisconsin’s defensive injuries are piling up, but so far the unit has shown no signs of cracking. The Badgers get to Huskers QB Tommy Armstrong and hand the Huskers their first defeat. Wisconsin 34 - Nebraska 24 http://www.foxsports.com/college-football/gallery/college-football-odds-lines-point-spreads-schedule-week-9-picks-mandel-102716 Quote Link to comment
Redux Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 Shocking. Watch when NU wins everybody will downplay this win as Wiscy just isnt that good either. I'd rather NU be an underdog. Have a chip on thier shoulder with something to prove. No if Wiscy wins it will be because they played the toughest schedule and it caught up with them. It will also make them a 3 loss team which is hard to rank a team at........unless you have an SEC logo on your field. Did I stutter? Quote Link to comment
Mavric Posted October 27, 2016 Share Posted October 27, 2016 No. 7 Nebraska at No. 11 Wisconsin Line: Wisconsin, -9 Under/Over: 43.5 The Badgers have lost ILB Jack Cichy for the season due to a torn pectoral muscle, and his shoes will be difficult to fill considering he leads Wisconsin in solo tackles and defensive stops, both by large margins. Nebraska has the rushing attack to take advantage as both QB Tommy Armstrong and RB Terrell Newby are averaging over 5.0 yards per designed rush, and have forced a total of 27 missed tackles. Wisconsin still has the horses to rush the passer, which will be critical to their success considering Armstrong is completing just 45.5 percent of his passes when under pressure. Wisconsin has a significant advantage with this being a home night game, but expecting them to cover this spread optimistic. Prediction: Wisconsin 17, Nebraska 13 PFF Quote Link to comment
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