Saunders
Heisman Trophy Winner
Game 10 “Expert” Picks: Nebraska @ Wisconsin
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CollegeFootballNews.com
http://cfn.scout.com/2/1479989.html
Nebraska (8-1) at Wisconsin (7-2) Nov. 15, 3:30, ABC
Here's The Deal: Last week it was Ohio State and Michigan State deciding the East, and this week it’s the Badgers and Huskers figuring out the West – for the most part. Minnesota is still alive and can win the division by beating Nebraska and Wisconsin on the road, and Iowa is still alive, but for all intents and purposes, the winner is off to the Big Ten championship to almost certainly face the Buckeyes.
Quickly growing into one of the Big Ten’s biggest new rivalries, the East’s two power programs are each coming in on a roll, with Wisconsin moving up to No. 20 in the latest CFP rankings after a dominant four game winning streak, and the No. 16 Huskers rolling in on a three game winning streak. However, between the two teams the only decent win was Nebraska’s victory over Miami, and it’s not like either one is navigating its way through the SEC West.
Even so, very, very quietly, Nebraska is still in the playoff chase with its only loss coming to Michigan State after coming back and making it close late in the 27-22 defeat. A win at Wisconsin, and with wins over Minnesota and Iowa, and all of a sudden, people will be talking about the possibilities for a Big Red team that might find its way into the fun if it can beat OSU and finish 12-1. With an amazing offense and aggressive defense, the Huskers haven’t had to breathe too hard in any of their wins outside of the near disaster against McNeese State. But no one outside of Ohio State is playing better in the Big Ten right now than Wisconsin.
Again, it helps to play Illinois, Maryland, Rutgers and Purdue, but the Badgers have been absolutely dominant in the four layups, allowing just 23 points over the last three games and not being threatened in any way. Unfortunately, the best win so far this year came against a mediocre Terp team, and there’s still a major question mark about how good the team really is.
It’s about to find out.
Why Nebraska Might Win: Oh yeah, the Wisconsin passing game. The Badger coaching staff realized that the offense needed to figure out its problems throwing the ball in a big hurry, so it used the last few weeks to try to work the kinks out. Bucky didn’t need to do anything but run the ball to win any of its last four games, but the games were used as a tune-up to see if things might start to click. They sort of did, with 216 yards against Maryland and 225 against Purdue, but Nebraska’s secondary isn’t going to be a pushover. The Huskers only allowed Miami and Fresno State to complete 50% of their passes, with passing games combining to hit 47% on the year with nine touchdown passes and 11 interceptions. With an aggressive defensive front that’s great at getting into the backfield, Wisconsin won’t have any time to get comfortable.
Why Wisconsin Might Win: Nebraska hasn’t seen anything yet like the Wisconsin running game. Michigan State comes the closes, and it handed the Huskers their only loss of the year thanks to the most rushing yards they’ve allowed, giving up 188 on the ground. The second-most allowed came in the close call to McNeese State. Wisconsin was held under 264 rushing yards just once on the year, and that was in the strange, sleepy 37-3 win over Western Illinois. On the other side of the ball, the revamped Badger D that was supposed to be a major concern has turned into an absolute killer, allowing 203 rushing yards in the loss to Northwestern, but stuffing everyone else including LSU. Wisconsin’s No. 1 D wants to turn Nebraska into a passing team that needs to try to crank up yards on the nation’s third-ranked pass defense.
Who To Watch Out For: No, Melvin Gordon and Ameer Abdullah serious contenders to win the Heisman – no, they really aren’t – but they’re two of the nation’s best players and they’re in the spotlight in a matchup of two future Jamaal Charles-like NFL stars. The star of the game between the two could end up taking the Doak Walker as the nation’s best running back.
Abdullah was held to 45 yards by Michigan State, but he ran for two touchdowns and rolled up everyone else but Purdue, running six times for a yard before going out with a knee injury. With time off to rest, he’s expected to be back and rolling, but he has to be dominant to keep Gordon and the Badger offense off the field.
Dominant, Gordon is averaging 7.6 yards per carry with 19 touchdowns and 1,501 yards, coming off a 205-yard day against Purdue. The knock on him at the next level is as a receiver, but he came up with three catches for 44 yards and a touchdown against the Boilermakers, and now he’s being used more and more now that the Badgers are in their key stretch.
What’s Going To Happen: Ohio State avenged its 2013 Big Ten championship loss to the Spartans last week, will Nebraska do the same to get payback for losing the 2012 Big Ten title game to Wisconsin? Nope. Wisconsin will get just enough out of its passing game to go along with a charged up defense that’ll take advantage of the energy of the home field crowd. This will be the Badger team everyone has been waiting for – against a good team.
Prediction: Nebraska 27 - Wisconsin 31
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BTN.com
http://btn.com/2014/11/12/week-12-see-our-predictions-for-all-seven-big-ten-football-games/
Sean Merriman: Nebraska 28 - Wisconsin 31
Brent Yarina: Nebraska 21 - Wisconsin 23
Tom Dienhart: Nebraska 20 - Wisconsin 23
Ryan Dunleavy: Nebraska 21 - Wisconsin 19
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ESPN Big Ten Blog
http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/110851/big-ten-week-12-predictions
Why Nebraska will win: Wisconsin's defense has been great this season, but it hasn't played a Power 5 offense ranked within the top 60. Nebraska is No. 17. The Huskers have the ability to keep a defense off-balance with one of the top rushers in the nation in Ameer Abdullah -- who should still play, even if he's not 100 percent -- and with a passing offense that averages nearly 60 yards more a game than Wisconsin. Gary Andersen's squad hasn't seen a team quite like Nebraska, and Wisconsin managed to lose to Northwestern, after all. I've been high on Nebraska all season, and I'm not about to jump off the bandwagon now. Nebraska comes away with the Freedom Trophy.
Nebraska 34 - Wisconsin 28. -- Josh Moyer
Why Wisconsin will win: Abdullah is questionable for Saturday's game after spraining his MCL two weeks ago. Even if he plays at full strength, which doesn't seem likely for the senior this weekend, Abdullah struggled the last time he faced a top-notch defensive front. Wisconsin ranks No. 5 nationally in rushing defense. The Badgers' offense is averaging more than 40 points per game during its current four-game winning streak. Wisconsin's passing game showed a glimmer of existence in last week's 34-16 win over Purdue. And of course the Badgers still have Melvin Gordon, now the country's leading rusher. He gets the better of this battle with Abdullah and so do the Badgers.
Nebraska 28 - Wisconsin 36. -- Dan Murphy
Brian Bennett - W
Adam Rittenberg - N
Mitch Sherman - W
Austin Ward - W
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Athlon Sports
http://athlonsports.com/college-football/big-ten-2014-week-12-preview-and-predictions
The Big Ten West won’t necessarily be won Saturday, but the winner will be the clear frontrunner. Both Nebraska and Wisconsin finish with Minnesota and Iowa. Those stakes, though, seems secondary compared to the showdown between Heisman-contending tailbacks — and friends — Melvin Gordon and Ameer Abdullah. Combined, they’ve rushed for 2,751 yards and 36 touchdowns. Both Nebraska and Wisconsin, though, have emerging stars in the front seven. Cornhuskers defensive end Randy Gregory is one of the nation’s stop pass rushers, and Nebraska coach Bo Pelini has compared his rising star defensive tackle Maliek Collins to LSU’s Glenn Dorsey. At the same time, Wisconsin outside linebacker Vince Biegel has recorded 10 tackles for a loss in the last five games.
David Fox: Nebraska 28 - Wisconsin 14
Braden Gall: Nebraska 28 - Wisconsin 29
Steven Lassan: Nebraska 24 - Wisconsin 27
Mitch Light: Nebraska 20 - Wisconsin 31
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CBS Sports
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/features/writers/expert/picks/straight-up/10
Dennis Dodd - W
Jon Solomon - W
Jerry Palm - W*
Tom Fornelli - N
Jerry Hinnen - W*
Chip Patterson - W
*Not covering - 5.5 spread
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Big Red Wrap-Up
http://netnebraska.org/interactive-multimedia/sports/big-red-wrap-wisconsin-prediction-1
Kevin Kugler: Nebraska 21 - Wisconsin 27
Blake Lawrence: Nebraska 24 - Wisconsin 27
Adrian Fiala: Nebraska 24 - Wisconsin 21
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AP Ralph D Russo
http://collegefootball.ap.org/article/how-sec-could-get-complicated-come-playoff-time
Nebraska 28 - Wisconsin 24
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Sporting News
http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2014-10-01/week-12-picks-spread-alabama-mississippi-state-FSU-Miami-Auburn-Georgia/slide/5
Bill Bender: Nebraska 27 - Wisconsin 34
Ken Bradley: Nebraska 31 - Wisconsin 28
Teddy Greenstein: Nebraska 24 - Wisconsin 33
Mike Griffith: Nebraska 17 - Wisconsin 24
Matt Hayes: Nebraska 24 - Wisconsin 27
Dave Matter: Nebraska 28 - Wisconsin 35
Cory McCartney: Nebraska 24 - Wisconsin 31
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CollegeFootballNews.com
http://cfn.scout.com/2/1479989.html
Nebraska (8-1) at Wisconsin (7-2) Nov. 15, 3:30, ABC
Here's The Deal: Last week it was Ohio State and Michigan State deciding the East, and this week it’s the Badgers and Huskers figuring out the West – for the most part. Minnesota is still alive and can win the division by beating Nebraska and Wisconsin on the road, and Iowa is still alive, but for all intents and purposes, the winner is off to the Big Ten championship to almost certainly face the Buckeyes.
Quickly growing into one of the Big Ten’s biggest new rivalries, the East’s two power programs are each coming in on a roll, with Wisconsin moving up to No. 20 in the latest CFP rankings after a dominant four game winning streak, and the No. 16 Huskers rolling in on a three game winning streak. However, between the two teams the only decent win was Nebraska’s victory over Miami, and it’s not like either one is navigating its way through the SEC West.
Even so, very, very quietly, Nebraska is still in the playoff chase with its only loss coming to Michigan State after coming back and making it close late in the 27-22 defeat. A win at Wisconsin, and with wins over Minnesota and Iowa, and all of a sudden, people will be talking about the possibilities for a Big Red team that might find its way into the fun if it can beat OSU and finish 12-1. With an amazing offense and aggressive defense, the Huskers haven’t had to breathe too hard in any of their wins outside of the near disaster against McNeese State. But no one outside of Ohio State is playing better in the Big Ten right now than Wisconsin.
Again, it helps to play Illinois, Maryland, Rutgers and Purdue, but the Badgers have been absolutely dominant in the four layups, allowing just 23 points over the last three games and not being threatened in any way. Unfortunately, the best win so far this year came against a mediocre Terp team, and there’s still a major question mark about how good the team really is.
It’s about to find out.
Why Nebraska Might Win: Oh yeah, the Wisconsin passing game. The Badger coaching staff realized that the offense needed to figure out its problems throwing the ball in a big hurry, so it used the last few weeks to try to work the kinks out. Bucky didn’t need to do anything but run the ball to win any of its last four games, but the games were used as a tune-up to see if things might start to click. They sort of did, with 216 yards against Maryland and 225 against Purdue, but Nebraska’s secondary isn’t going to be a pushover. The Huskers only allowed Miami and Fresno State to complete 50% of their passes, with passing games combining to hit 47% on the year with nine touchdown passes and 11 interceptions. With an aggressive defensive front that’s great at getting into the backfield, Wisconsin won’t have any time to get comfortable.
Why Wisconsin Might Win: Nebraska hasn’t seen anything yet like the Wisconsin running game. Michigan State comes the closes, and it handed the Huskers their only loss of the year thanks to the most rushing yards they’ve allowed, giving up 188 on the ground. The second-most allowed came in the close call to McNeese State. Wisconsin was held under 264 rushing yards just once on the year, and that was in the strange, sleepy 37-3 win over Western Illinois. On the other side of the ball, the revamped Badger D that was supposed to be a major concern has turned into an absolute killer, allowing 203 rushing yards in the loss to Northwestern, but stuffing everyone else including LSU. Wisconsin’s No. 1 D wants to turn Nebraska into a passing team that needs to try to crank up yards on the nation’s third-ranked pass defense.
Who To Watch Out For: No, Melvin Gordon and Ameer Abdullah serious contenders to win the Heisman – no, they really aren’t – but they’re two of the nation’s best players and they’re in the spotlight in a matchup of two future Jamaal Charles-like NFL stars. The star of the game between the two could end up taking the Doak Walker as the nation’s best running back.
Abdullah was held to 45 yards by Michigan State, but he ran for two touchdowns and rolled up everyone else but Purdue, running six times for a yard before going out with a knee injury. With time off to rest, he’s expected to be back and rolling, but he has to be dominant to keep Gordon and the Badger offense off the field.
Dominant, Gordon is averaging 7.6 yards per carry with 19 touchdowns and 1,501 yards, coming off a 205-yard day against Purdue. The knock on him at the next level is as a receiver, but he came up with three catches for 44 yards and a touchdown against the Boilermakers, and now he’s being used more and more now that the Badgers are in their key stretch.
What’s Going To Happen: Ohio State avenged its 2013 Big Ten championship loss to the Spartans last week, will Nebraska do the same to get payback for losing the 2012 Big Ten title game to Wisconsin? Nope. Wisconsin will get just enough out of its passing game to go along with a charged up defense that’ll take advantage of the energy of the home field crowd. This will be the Badger team everyone has been waiting for – against a good team.
Prediction: Nebraska 27 - Wisconsin 31
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BTN.com
http://btn.com/2014/11/12/week-12-see-our-predictions-for-all-seven-big-ten-football-games/
Sean Merriman: Nebraska 28 - Wisconsin 31
Brent Yarina: Nebraska 21 - Wisconsin 23
Tom Dienhart: Nebraska 20 - Wisconsin 23
Ryan Dunleavy: Nebraska 21 - Wisconsin 19
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ESPN Big Ten Blog
http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/110851/big-ten-week-12-predictions
Why Nebraska will win: Wisconsin's defense has been great this season, but it hasn't played a Power 5 offense ranked within the top 60. Nebraska is No. 17. The Huskers have the ability to keep a defense off-balance with one of the top rushers in the nation in Ameer Abdullah -- who should still play, even if he's not 100 percent -- and with a passing offense that averages nearly 60 yards more a game than Wisconsin. Gary Andersen's squad hasn't seen a team quite like Nebraska, and Wisconsin managed to lose to Northwestern, after all. I've been high on Nebraska all season, and I'm not about to jump off the bandwagon now. Nebraska comes away with the Freedom Trophy.
Nebraska 34 - Wisconsin 28. -- Josh Moyer
Why Wisconsin will win: Abdullah is questionable for Saturday's game after spraining his MCL two weeks ago. Even if he plays at full strength, which doesn't seem likely for the senior this weekend, Abdullah struggled the last time he faced a top-notch defensive front. Wisconsin ranks No. 5 nationally in rushing defense. The Badgers' offense is averaging more than 40 points per game during its current four-game winning streak. Wisconsin's passing game showed a glimmer of existence in last week's 34-16 win over Purdue. And of course the Badgers still have Melvin Gordon, now the country's leading rusher. He gets the better of this battle with Abdullah and so do the Badgers.
Nebraska 28 - Wisconsin 36. -- Dan Murphy
Brian Bennett - W
Adam Rittenberg - N
Mitch Sherman - W
Austin Ward - W
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Athlon Sports
http://athlonsports.com/college-football/big-ten-2014-week-12-preview-and-predictions
The Big Ten West won’t necessarily be won Saturday, but the winner will be the clear frontrunner. Both Nebraska and Wisconsin finish with Minnesota and Iowa. Those stakes, though, seems secondary compared to the showdown between Heisman-contending tailbacks — and friends — Melvin Gordon and Ameer Abdullah. Combined, they’ve rushed for 2,751 yards and 36 touchdowns. Both Nebraska and Wisconsin, though, have emerging stars in the front seven. Cornhuskers defensive end Randy Gregory is one of the nation’s stop pass rushers, and Nebraska coach Bo Pelini has compared his rising star defensive tackle Maliek Collins to LSU’s Glenn Dorsey. At the same time, Wisconsin outside linebacker Vince Biegel has recorded 10 tackles for a loss in the last five games.
David Fox: Nebraska 28 - Wisconsin 14
Braden Gall: Nebraska 28 - Wisconsin 29
Steven Lassan: Nebraska 24 - Wisconsin 27
Mitch Light: Nebraska 20 - Wisconsin 31
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CBS Sports
http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/features/writers/expert/picks/straight-up/10
Dennis Dodd - W
Jon Solomon - W
Jerry Palm - W*
Tom Fornelli - N
Jerry Hinnen - W*
Chip Patterson - W
*Not covering - 5.5 spread
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Big Red Wrap-Up
http://netnebraska.org/interactive-multimedia/sports/big-red-wrap-wisconsin-prediction-1
Kevin Kugler: Nebraska 21 - Wisconsin 27
Blake Lawrence: Nebraska 24 - Wisconsin 27
Adrian Fiala: Nebraska 24 - Wisconsin 21
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AP Ralph D Russo
http://collegefootball.ap.org/article/how-sec-could-get-complicated-come-playoff-time
Nebraska 28 - Wisconsin 24
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Sporting News
http://www.sportingnews.com/ncaa-football/story/2014-10-01/week-12-picks-spread-alabama-mississippi-state-FSU-Miami-Auburn-Georgia/slide/5
Bill Bender: Nebraska 27 - Wisconsin 34
Ken Bradley: Nebraska 31 - Wisconsin 28
Teddy Greenstein: Nebraska 24 - Wisconsin 33
Mike Griffith: Nebraska 17 - Wisconsin 24
Matt Hayes: Nebraska 24 - Wisconsin 27
Dave Matter: Nebraska 28 - Wisconsin 35
Cory McCartney: Nebraska 24 - Wisconsin 31
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