Saunders

2019 Game 7 “Expert” Picks: Nebraska @ Minnesota ————— CollegeFootballNews.com https://collegefootballnews.com/2019/10/minnesota-vs-nebraska-fearless-prediction-game-preview-2019 Why Nebraska Will Win The Gophers might have woken up from a sleepy start against Illinois, but it all worked out in the end of a 40-17 win. That’s about as easy as it can get for them this year. Minnesota has only played one team – Fresno State – that’s likely going to end up in a bowl game, and this isn’t the Fresno State team of the last few seasons. Nebraska might look like it’s been struggling a bit – and it has been – but it’s faced Colorado, Ohio State, and a Northwestern team that’s struggling, but is still plucky. The Huskers have the type of rushing offense that should be able to give Minnesota problems. Georgia Southern might have a dangerous triple-option attack, but for the most part, the Gophers haven’t had to deal with anyone who can steadily run the ball well. It’s been a fight, but the Huskers can hit the occasional home run, and on the other side, have the line that can get into the backfield. The Gophers hardly have the most well-oiled of offensive machines, and any disruption is a problem. Why Minnesota Will Win Well THERE we go, Minnesota. The Gopher ground game only showed up when it absolutely had to early on this season, but it destroyed Illinois for 332 yards and two scores in the easiest win of the season. Rodney Smith went off for 211 yards as he keeps building and improving after missing most of last year hurt. The Huskers have to load up against the run first – this is how the Gophers want to travel – and that opens things up for Tanner Morgan, one of the Big Ten’s most unappreciated breakout stars. The sophomore had a bit of a rough passing game against Illinois, and he still threw for three scores. He’s bombing away with his great receiving corps hitting bit shot after big shot, but again, it’s about running and running some more, if possible. Minnesota dominates the time of possession battle, and Nebraska doesn’t care about keeping the clock moving. That means … What’s Going To Happen The Gophers should have the ball for at least 35 minutes and should be at least a +2 in turnover margin against a Nebraska team that couldn’t stop giving the ball away until finally hanging on to the ball against Northwestern. The Huskers aren’t playing well enough to overcome a slew of mistakes, but it’ll keep it close against the Minnesota offense that will stall early, and start working well late. It’ll be entertaining as the Gophers stay unbeaten. Minnesota 34 - Nebraska 30 https://collegefootballnews.com/2019/10/college-football-expert-picks-predictions-week-7-2019/5 Gill Alexander: Minnesota* Jeff Feyerer: Minnesota* Pete Fiutak: Minnesota* Dan Harralson: Nebraska Phil Harrison: Minnesota* Isaiah Hole: Nebraska Will Hunter: Minnesota* Jeremy Mauss: Minnesota* Kegan Reaneau: Minnesota* Johnny Rosenstein: Minnesota* Nick Shepkowski: Minnesota* Scott Steehn: Minnesota* Keith Stewart: Nebraska Joe Vitale: Minnesota Chris Wassel: Minnesota* Joe Williams: Minnesota* Ben Niewoehner: Nebraska ————— ESPN FPI https://www.espn.com/college-football/game/_/gameId/401112233 Minnesota - 68% Win ————— DRatings https://www.dratings.com/predictor/ncaa-football-predictions/ Minnesota 31 - Nebraska 27 Minnesota - 65% Win ————— FOX Sports https://www.foxsports.com/college-football/predictions?season=2019&seasonType=1&week=7&group=11 Minnesota 33 - Nebraska 31 Minnesota - 56% Win ————— Bill Connelly SP+ https://twitter.com/ESPN_BillC/status/1181906309425307648 Minnesota - 70% Win Minnesota 35 - Nebraska 26 ————— Big Red Wrap-Up http://netnebraska.org/interactive-multimedia/sports/big-red-wrap-minnesota-prediction-6 Mike’l Severe: Minnesota 28 - Nebraska 23 Jay Moore: Minnesota 24 - Nebraska 21 Damon Benning: Nebraska 22 - Minnesota 20 ————— The Athletic - Stewart Mandel https://theathletic.com/1281260/2019/10/10/stewart-mandels-week-7-college-football-picks-2 This is a tough one. I strongly suspect the Gophers are not as stellar as their 5-0 record, but Nebraska is arguably more mediocre than its 4-2 record suggests. However, the Huskers’ defense has yet to show it can handle a decent offense, and the Gophers have some weapons in RB Rodney Smith and WRs Tyler Johnson and Rashod Bateman. Minnesota 38 - Nebraska 31 The Athletic - Bruce Feldman https://theathletic.com/1282372/2019/10/10/bruce-feldman-week-7-college-football-picks The Golden Gophers are coming off their most impressive showing of the season, a rout of a mediocre Illinois team. Now they face a Huskers team that blew them out last season. Tanner Morgan has been playing well, but my hunch here is that Nebraska, coming off an emotional win last week, is ready to pull the upset. Nebraska 20 - Minnesota 17 ————— More to come...

2019 Game 6 “Expert” Picks: Northwestern @ Nebraska ————— CollegeFootballNews.com https://collegefootballnews.com/2019/10/nebraska-vs-northwestern-fearless-prediction-game-preview-2019 Why Northwestern Will Win Remember when Nebraska couldn’t stop giving the ball away early last season? It’s even worse this time around. The Huskers gave it up two times or more in seven games last year, including three times in the collapse against the Wildcats. After losing 22 turnovers, how is the offense doing this year? It’s given it up 14 times with three or more in four of the five games. Northwestern needs those mistakes to happen early and often. The defense hasn’t been all that bad overall, but the offense isn’t working even a little bit. The more easy drives, the better. The Nebraska offensive line isn’t doing enough to keep defenses out of the backfield, the offense has been hit-or-miss in terms of consistency, and … Why Nebraska Will Win Northwestern’s offense is AWFUL. Yeah, the Huskers might not have the team many were hoping for, and the offense hasn’t been quite as amazing as expected, but before the Ohio State loss, the O was still able to score. Northwestern? It scored 30 on a miserable UNLV team, and hasn’t done anything against anyone else. Eventually, once he’s able to settle down and relax a bit, QB Hunter Johnson will be terrific. But for right now, he’s not able to do much of anything – failing to connect on half of his passes so far with one touchdown pass and four picks. As always, this is a plucky team that finds ways to drag opponents down to its level – witness the way-too-tough-to-put-away fight for Wisconsin last week – but it shouldn’t take more than a few early Husker scores to apply the knockout punch. What’s Going To Happen This will be a far cry from the amazing 34-31 thriller Northwestern pulled off to get by Nebraska last year. The Huskers won’t explode, but they’ll do what they need to early on, and the nation’s least-efficient passing game from Northwestern won’t be able to answer. The Wildcats won’t let this get out of hand – and they’ll battle back to make it interesting in the second half after coming up with two takeaways – but they simply won’t have the scoring punch to finish the drill. Nebraska 30 - Northwestern 20 ————— ESPN FPI https://www.espn.com/college-football/game/_/gameId/401112242 Nebraska - 68% Win ————— DRatings https://www.dratings.com/predictor/ncaa-football-predictions/ Nebraska 29 - Northwestern 23 Nebraska - 68% Win ————— FOX Sports https://www.foxsports.com/college-football/predictions?season=2019&seasonType=1&week=6 Nebraska 31 - Northwestern 30 Nebraska - 56% Win ————— Bill Connelly SP+ https://twitter.com/ESPN_BillC/status/1179371225396723713 Nebraska - 72% Win Nebraska 27 - Northwestern 17 ————— Big Red Wrap-Up http://netnebraska.org/interactive-multimedia/sports/big-red-wrap-northwestern-prediction-6 Mike’l Severe: Nebraska 26 - Northwestern 24 Jay Moore: Nebraska 31 - Northwestern 21 Sean Callahan: Nebraska 27 - Northwestern 23 ————— More to come...

I mean... we're seriously dragging AM for this?

Realistically, I don't think it's going to happen. But.. I don't see 8-4 or better as out of the question if we simply stop turning the ball over.

2019 Game 5 “Expert” Picks: Ohio State @ Nebraska ————— CollegeFootballNews.com https://collegefootballnews.com/2019/09/ohio-state-vs-nebraska-fearless-prediction-game-preview-2019 Why Nebraska Will Win If anyone has the offensive upside to stay with the Ohio State juggernaut offense, it’s Nebraska at home. The O finally started to kick it in over the last few weeks on the ground. The rushing attack has gotten better in each of the four games, rolling for 238 yards in the win over Northern Illinois – ripping apart the Huskies at will – and destroyed Illinois for 346 yards last week. Somewhat quietly, the offense is looking like it’s supposed to. The explosion is there, the balance is in place, and Adrian Martinez is looking the part. He gave the Buckeyes fits last season with 72 yards and two scores and threw for 266 yards in the loss, and now he’s finding his stride. Ohio State has yet to play an offense with enough playmakers to make the defense worry. Indiana has some nice parts, and Cincinnati has a decent backfield, but for a team that has yet to be pushed in any way, it’s about to have to deal with a cranked up team that’s looking for a signature moment under Scott Frost. Why Ohio State Will Win Nebraska, welcome to Chase Young. It’s partly because Martinez is so mobile and runs so much, but the Nebraska offensive line allows a ton of sacks and too many tackles for loss. Now it has to deal with Mr. Young, who if he isn’t playing like the best defensive pro prospect in college football, he’s not far off. He has taken his pass rushing skills to a whole other level, with seven sacks on the season as an unstoppable disruptive force. He’s not alone, the Ohio State defense is second in the nation in tackles or loss and third in sacks. On the other side, it takes something special to be the most dangerous player in a game with Adrian Martinez. Justin Fields has been every bit the player Ohio State was hoping it was getting when he transferred over. Flawless, he has yet to throw a pick, has thrown 13 touchdown passes, is spreading the ball around well, and he’s running wild when he gets room to move. In terms of skill parts around him, Alabama’s are better, and Clemson’s are fantastic, but Ohio State’s are right there. What’s Going To Happen The Nebraska secondary is about to get lit up like a Christmas tree. The team just doesn’t have the D. Martinez will come up with enough big plays to make it fun early on, and then the Buckeye machine will turn on and pull away in the second half. Both teams will hit their share of home runs, but Ohio State will come up with a defensive stop. Nebraska won’t. Ohio State 45 - Nebraska 23 https://collegefootballnews.com/2019/09/college-football-expert-picks-predictions-week-5 Gill Alexander: Ohio State Jeff Feyerer: Ohio State Pete Fiutak: Ohio State Dan Harralson: Ohio State Phil Harrison: Ohio State* Isaiah Hole: Ohio State Will Hunter: Ohio State Jeremy Mauss: Ohio State Kegan Reaneau: Ohio State Johnny Rosenstein: Ohio State Nick Shepkowski: Ohio State Scott Steehn: Ohio State Keith Stewart: Ohio State Joe Vitale: Ohio State* Chris Wassel: Ohio State Joe Williams: Ohio State ————— Dallas Morning News https://www.dallasnews.com/sports/2019/09/24/our-week-5-college-football-expert-picks-predictions-for-am-arkansas-houston-unt-oklahoma-tech-and-more/ Scott Bell: OSU* Sam Blum: OSU Chuck Carlton: OSU Corby Davidson: OSU Ric Renner: OSU Jose Rodruquez: OSU New Scrugs: OSU Kevin Sherrington: OSU Bret Vito: OSU ————— 247 Sports https://247sports.com/Article/College-football-coach-announces-firing-on-Twitter-vanishes-136049990 Chris Hummer I really like the Buckeyes here. The Huskers are 1-4 against the spread this season (Ohio State is 3-1), and they’re allowed 36 points per game against Power Five competition (Colorado, Illinois) thus far. And if Illinois could drop 38 points on Nebraska, the Buckeyes certainly will. More troubling for Nebraska, perhaps, is its o-line. Illinois had 15 tackles for loss last Saturday, and Ohio State’s front is even better Ohio State 45 - Nebraska 24 Brad Crawford This was a game I considered taking the outright upset in before the season — then I saw Ohio State's offense and noticed Nebraska wasn't the team I thought they'd be. No disrespect to the Huskers, but the ceiling looks like eight wins while the Buckeyes should eclipse double-digits and be in line for a Playoff berth. Ohio State is better up front and Ryan Day's squad will show it in Lincoln. Ohio State 38 - Nebraska 17 ————— ESPN FPI https://www.espn.com/college-football/game/_/gameId/401112241 Ohio State - 89.8% Win ————— DRatings https://www.dratings.com/predictor/ncaa-football-predictions/ Ohio State 35 - Nebraska 32 Ohio State - 55.9% Win ————— FOX Sports https://www.foxsports.com/college-football/predictions?season=2019&seasonType=1&week=5 Ohio State 34 - Nebraska 28 Ohio State - 65.3% Win ————— Bill Connelly SP+ https://twitter.com/ESPN_BillC/status/1176919129766453248 Ohio State - 86% Win Ohio State 39 - Nebraska 20 ————— Big Red Wrap-Up http://netnebraska.org/interactive-multimedia/sports/big-red-wrap-ohio-state-prediction-3 Mike’l Severe: Ohio State 34 - Nebraska 31 Jay Moore: Ohio State 38 - Nebraska 24 Steve Sipple: Ohio State 38 - Nebraska 31 ————— More to come...

2019 Game 4 “Expert” Picks: Nebraska @ Illinois ————— CollegeFootballNews.com https://collegefootballnews.com/2019/09/nebraska-vs-illinois-fearless-prediction-game-preview Why Illinois Will Win Nebraska … what’s up with allowing all the blocked kicks? The Huskers just aren’t sharp enough yet. They’re 2-1 with only the one tough loss to Colorado – they were winless last year at this time – but there are too many fumbles, the secondary has been awful, there are too many stalled drives that come away with no points, and getting five kicks blocked in three games are way too many. That’s what Illinois needs. It has to hope for the other team to screw up more than it will. The Illini offense hasn’t been bad. I’ll move the chains, the run defense has been solid, and the pass rush has been fantastic from the start. Illinois has to get to Adrian Martinez and make him press. The Husker QB has been good so far, but he hasn’t been terrific enough to make up for all of the other deficiencies. Why Nebraska Will Win The Huskers can get behind the line, too. The pass defense is way too soft and there are too many third downs allowed, but the Nebraska front seven is living in the backfield with 27 tackles for loss so far. The Illinois offense stalls when it gets hit by a stiff breeze – make a play behind the line against this group, and the running game stops. How did Illinois lose to Eastern Michigan? The Illini secondary was torched by Eagle QB Mike Glass, giving up 316 yards a week after getting hit for 275 yards by a UConn offense that shouldn’t be able to flirt with 300 yards throwing against air. It hasn’t been perfect so far, but the Husker offense should be able to generate enough takeaways and get its own attack going just enough to force the Illini to press. What’s Going To Happen Illinois will have its moments when the offense works better than the Huskers might like, and the passing game will come up with enough to stay alive, but Martinez will go off. The Illinois secondary isn’t doing anything considering all the pressure the line is generating. Expect a wee bit of a shootout that’s more fun than you might think. Both teams will trade wild haymakers, but the Huskers will come up with a few more. Nebraska 40 - Illinois 31 https://collegefootballnews.com/2019/09/college-football-expert-picks-predictions-week-4/3 Gill Alexander: Nebraska Jeff Feyerer: Nebraska* (indicates not covering spread) Pete Fiutak: Nebraska Dan Harralson: Nebraska Phil Harrison: Nebraska Isaiah Hole: Nebraska Will Hunter: Nebraska* Jeremy Mauss: Nebraska Kegan Reaneau: Nebraska Johnny Rosenstein: Nebraska Nick Shepkowski: Nebraska* Scott Steehn: Nebraska Keith Stewart: Nebraska Joe Vitale: Nebraska Chris Wassel: Nebraska Joe Williams: Nebraska ————— ESPN FPI https://www.espn.com/college-football/game/_/gameId/401112148 Nebraska - 74.1% Win ————— DRatings https://www.dratings.com/predictor/ncaa-football-predictions/ Nebraska 32 - Illinois 28 Nebraska - 65.9% Win ————— FOX Sports https://www.foxsports.com/college-football/boxscore?id=30654&type=8 Nebraska 31 - Illinois 28 Nebraska - 59.4% Win ————— Bill Connelly SP+ https://twitter.com/ESPN_BillC/status/1174313670324772864 Nebraska - 67% Win Nebraska 34 - Illinois 26 ————— Big Red Wrap-Up http://netnebraska.org/interactive-multimedia/sports/big-red-wrap-illinois-prediction-5 Mike’l Severe: Nebraska 38 - Illinois 24 Jay Moore: Nebraska 35 - Illinois 24 Sean Callahan: Nebraska 41 - Illinois 20 ————— More to come...

2019 Game 3 “Expert” Picks: NIU @ Nebraska ————— CollegeFootballNews.com https://collegefootballnews.com/2019/09/nebraska-vs-northern-illinois-fearless-prediction-game-preview-2019 Why NIU Will Win The program has done it before, going into Lincoln in Week 3 of the 2017 season and coming away with a 21-17 win. It’s a new era and a new coaching staff, but this is a good enough team under new head coach Thomas Hammmock to give the struggling and strange Huskers another run. The Huskies couldn’t handle a strong Utah team in a 35-17 loss last week – there wasn’t much from the ground game – but Cal transfer QB Ross Bowers continues to be solid, and the defense after two games has been a brick wall on third downs. On the flip side, Nebraska had a sleepy first game against South Alabama and followed it up with a collapse in an overtime loss to Colorado. Sort of like the early part of last season, there’s a fumbling issue, there’s a pass defense issue, and once again, there’s a big penalty issue. If NIU doesn’t make any big mistakes, it should be able to wait for Nebraska to implode. Why Nebraska Will Win It’s like the switch hasn’t been turned on quite yet … but it’s coming. The Huskers have the skill guys to put this away fast. Maurice Washington is a devastating back who hit a big home run against the Buffs, JD Spielman added 112 receiving yards, and despite the fumbling problems, Adrian Martinez started to breakout. Northern Illinois can’t keep up if the Husker offense is on. The O has a huge problem on third downs, and the line hasn’t been able to generate enough of a push or keep lines – particularly Utah’s – out of the backfield. On the other side, without Sutton Smith and some of the other key parts on last year’s defensive front, the Huskies don’t have the pass rush that was so dominant last season. Martinez will have time to work. What’s Going To Happen Nebraska will get up early, and then stall. Again. Northern Illinois will dink and dunk its way into the game, but it won’t be able to go on enough long, sustained drives to get over the hump. The Huskers will win, but it won’t be anything to inspire a whole lot of confidence going into the star of the Big Ten season. Nebraska 26 - NIU 17 ————— ESPN FPI https://www.espn.com/college-football/game/_/gameId/401112240 Nebraska - 82.8% Win ————— DRatings https://www.dratings.com/predictor/ncaa-football-predictions/ Nebraska 34 - NIU 22 Nebraska - 80.9% Win ————— FOX Sports https://www.foxsports.com/college-football/boxscore?id=30636&type=8 Nebraska 31 - NIU 29 Nebraska - 58.4% Win ————— Bill Connelly SP+ https://twitter.com/ESPN_BillC/status/1171926924253421569 Nebraska - 70% Win Nebraska 35 - NIU 26 ————— Big Red Wrap-Up http://netnebraska.org/interactive-multimedia/sports/big-red-wrap-northern-illinois-prediction-0 Mike’l Severe: Nebraska 31 - NIU 20 Jay Moore: Nebraska 31 - NIU 21 Damon Benning: Nebraska 34 - NIU 17 —————

Added a bunch more picks. It's essentially 50/50 at this point.

This hit the rounds a week or so ago, and seems quite timely.