Week 4 "Expert" Picks: Nebraska @ Wyoming

[Saunders]

Yahoo! Sports

 

Gerry Ahern (N) - Tom Dienhart (N) - Mike Hugenin (N) - Yahoo! Users (N) 98%

 

THE BUZZ: Wyoming is 3-0 for the first time since 1996. This is the sixth meeting in the series but the first since 1994, and this also is the first time the teams have met at Wyoming. Huskers QB Taylor Martinez still must improve as a passer (just a 48.4 completion percentage), but he is averaging 128.0 rushing yards per game. Wyoming has won two of its past three home games against Big Six foes.

 

THE LINE: Nebraska by 23.5 THE PICK: Nebraska 45 - Wyoming 20

 

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Phil Steele

 

Last met in ‘94. Since ‘04 WY is 2-1 hosting BCS tms but 3-0 ATS and in ‘09 led Texas 10-6 late 2Q before the Longhorns pulled away in the 2H. Neb is off Wash and has its first B10 AG at #7 Wisky on deck. NU was only up by 3 at HT LW but QB Martinez needed just 10 2H pass yds to propel them to a 51-38 win (NU 22-20 FD, 464-420 yd edges) over Wash. Martinez is avg 163 ypg (48%) with a 3-2 ratio and leads with 384 rush yd (7.5, 6 TD). The #2 rusher, Burkhead, has 250 (5.2) with 5 TD’s. WY is off a road trip to BG but has bye on deck. The Pokes D forced 6 TO’s LW and despite being outFD’d 28-18 and outgained 514-396, WY blk’d BG’s PAT with :03 left and pulled another OUTRIGHT UPSET winner for our Big Dogs, 28-27 (+9’). True frosh QB Smith is avg 266 ypg (62%) with a 5-3 ratio and has 5 rec’s over 100 yds. The top rusher is Muhammad with only 198 (7.6, 2 TD). WY is 3-0 for the 1st time S/’96 and does have the altitude edge but Neb fans travel well and NU has huge edges all around. The Huskers have scored 40+ in their 1st 3 (1st time that’s happened S/’95) and should take care of business.

 

PHIL’S FORECAST: NEBRASKA 36 -WYOMING 16

 

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CBS Sports

 

Adam Jacobi (N) - Jerry Hinnen (N) - Chip Patterson (N)Dennis Dodd (N) - Bruce Feldman (N) - Brett McMurphy (N) - Tom Fornelli (N)

 

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Collegefootballnews.com

 

Washington (2-0) at Nebraska (2-0) Sept. 17, 3:30, ABC

 

Here’s The Deal … Nebraska is everyone’s big date over the next several weeks.

 

This is being called the biggest home game in Wyoming history, or at least the hottest ticket, with excitement sky-high after the Cowboys’ hot start helped by a somewhat stunning road win over Bowling Green last week. This is very young, very inexperienced UW team that’s in a stepping-stone season, and while some other big names have made the trip to Laramie over the years, this one is generating the biggest buzz.

 

Nebraska is getting on I-80 and going eight hours west this week, but its brain is eight hours to the east and Camp Randall Stadium for next week’s inaugural Big Ten conference game against Wisconsin. Tickets are impossible to get for the huge conference showdown, and while that’s all anyone wants to talk about, first, the Huskers have to start playing better than they have over the first three weeks and have to put down the pesky Cowboys.

 

Nebraska is 5-0 in the series with the first game in 1934 and the last coming in 1994, and the Cowboys haven’t been close all that often losing by a combined score of 203 to 69. But this is the first time Nebraska has come to Wyoming.

 

Why Nebraska Might Win: The Wyoming pass defense hasn’t shown up yet. Wyoming’s run D stats aren’t great because the run defense is great; teams are spending their time moving the ball through the air. Weber State was effective completing 19-of-28 passes for 314 yards and two scores, and Bowling Green bombed away for 437 yards and four scores last week. The UW secondary has come up with four picks in the first three games, and Nebraska’s passing game hasn’t exactly rolled so far, but if Taylor Martinez wants to try pushing the ball down the field, it should be able to do it.

 

Of course, Nebraska is going to do what Nebraska is going to do and it’s going to get the ball moving on the ball, and Wyoming hasn’t faced anyone yet who can run the ball with any regularity. Even if the Cowboys can load up and stop Martinez and Rex Burkhead from getting loose, the secondary could be dinked and dunked on to death.

 

Why Wyoming Might Win: the pass rush has been tremendous and the defensive front has been phenomenal at getting behind the line. The Cowboys ripped off nine sacks so far and 20 tackles for loss, and they should be able to get to Martinez on a regular basis if the Husker O line doesn’t play far better. The Big Red running game has been fine, but it’s taken far too much work to get going with any consistency.

 

Yes, the Wyoming secondary is vulnerable, and yes, Martinez should have his moments throwing the ball. However, he’s just not accurate enough to be relied on to carry the offense through the air if the ground game is getting stuffed. Martinez only completed 10-of-21 passes against Washington last week, and did the same against Fresno State also completing 10-of-21 throws. If Wyoming can keep the big plays to a minimum, and if the offense can control the clock, it’ll have a chance. That means it needs a huge game from …

 

What To Watch Out For: Brett Smith, who needs to have the game of his young life. The true freshman been every bit as good as the Cowboys have dreamed of, considering the quarterback situation was such a concern after Austin Carta-Samuels left, and now he has to be even better. He picked a great time to come up with his best of the three games, throwing for 267 yards and a score, and running for 37 yards while moving the chains and not making mistakes. He has to be error-free against the Huskers and he has to keep pushing the ball on the Big Red secondary that had problems with Washington’s Keith Price last week.

 

Nebraska is getting a great start out of a true freshman of its own. Ameer Abdullah has run the ball a little bit, with no real luck, but the speedster has been phenomenal on returns averaging 43 yards per kickoff return last week and 42.5 yards per try over the last two games. He’s also a difference maker on punt returns averaging 13 yards per pop. Even if the Husker offense is sputtering, Abdullah should come up with a game-breaking dash to turn things around.

 

What Will Happen: After about a quarter of euphoria and hopes for one of the strongest wins in Wyoming history, reality will set in. The Nebraska running game will work with Martinez and Burkhead each running for 100 yards and controlling the clock throughout. Smith will have a big game and will get Husker fans freaking out about what Wisconsin’s Russell Wilson might do next week, but it won’t be enough.

 

CFN Prediction: Nebraska 48 … Wyoming 20

[Foppa]

Looks like most of the 'experts' are thinking Wyoming is going to score some points on the D.

[notgoodatmath]

not a huge stretch, IMO

[knapplc]

This is going to be vanilla fluff from Nebraska on both sides of the ball. Think UTC, only on the road. Bo isn't going to give Wisconsin any more film on us than he has to, and that's going to keep this game closer than it could be.

 

That's my suspicion. We'll win by a couple of touchdowns, look boring doing it, and the board will melt down again. But at least we shouldn't crash the server anymore.

[HuskerShark]

Looks like most of the 'experts' are thinking Wyoming is going to score some points on the D.

I would be ecstatic if the return of Dennard sparked a defensive dominance in this game. I would guess they will try to pick on Ciante/Mitchell often in this game. Hopefully they rise to the challenge. I like what I've seen out of the undersized Josh Mitchell so far.

[Foppa]

Someday it'll be nice when all the pre-season all-americans are on the field at the same time...hopefully vs Wiscy.

[308_Husker]

This is going to be vanilla fluff from Nebraska on both sides of the ball. Think UTC, only on the road. Bo isn't going to give Wisconsin any more film on us than he has to, and that's going to keep this game closer than it could be.

 

That's my suspicion. We'll win by a couple of touchdowns, look boring doing it, and the board will melt down again. But at least we shouldn't crash the server anymore.

 

I really hate it when coaches decide to go vanilla. It really makes no sense to me. Sure, it gives you the benefit of keeping some plays secret, but if you keep those plays secret until you play good teams like Wisconsin and those 'secret plays' don't work, now what? Do you keep it vanilla? To me, the most valuable experience that these young kids can get is practicing these plays during games. Even though you can simulate game situations during practice, let's face it, it's an entirely different situation when you're in a packed stadium with the whole nation watching.

 

Also, what do we have to hide? I admit, we probably should be able to run simple plays and put ourselves in a situation to win over Wyoming. However, it makes me cringe thinking of Beck digging deep into his playbook at Wisconsin and suddenly we can't execute. Just my two cents.

[knapplc]

I really hate it when coaches decide to go vanilla. It really makes no sense to me. Sure, it gives you the benefit of keeping some plays secret, but if you keep those plays secret until you play good teams like Wisconsin and those 'secret plays' don't work, now what? Do you keep it vanilla? To me, the most valuable experience that these young kids can get is practicing these plays during games. Even though you can simulate game situations during practice, let's face it, it's an entirely different situation when you're in a packed stadium with the whole nation watching.

 

Also, what do we have to hide? I admit, we probably should be able to run simple plays and put ourselves in a situation to win over Wyoming. However, it makes me cringe thinking of Beck digging deep into his playbook at Wisconsin and suddenly we can't execute. Just my two cents.

 

I agree. I would much rather open the playbook in series one, game one, and perfect everything in live action. Who cares if your opponent has film on you? They may know what you're doing, but they still have to line up and stop it. Osborne very rarely held anything back, so maybe that's where I get that philosophy from.

 

This is a guess, of course, because Bo doesn't let me into the coach's room when they're game-planning, but I have watched practice and they're not yet running some plays I saw.

 

None of us really know Bo, but as private as he is, and as little information as he likes to give out about even obvious injuries, this kind of mentality seems to fit. He really seems like the kind of coach who would hide plays, hold things back, that kind of stuff.

[Jason Sitoke]

This is going to be vanilla fluff from Nebraska on both sides of the ball. Think UTC, only on the road. Bo isn't going to give Wisconsin any more film on us than he has to, and that's going to keep this game closer than it could be. That's my suspicion. We'll win by a couple of touchdowns, look boring doing it, and the board will melt down again. But at least we shouldn't crash the server anymore.

 

Yep, and next week we'll go vanilla too because we don't want to give Ohio St. any film.