*** 2016 Game 4 "Expert" Picks: Nebraska at Northwestern***

[Saunders]

2016 Game 4 “Expert” Picks: Nebraska @ Northwestern

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CollegeFootballNews.com

http://collegefootballnews.com/2016/nebraska-northwestern-game-preview-prediction-line-tv

 

Why Nebraska Will Win

Another year, another season when the Northwestern offense isn’t working.

The passing game is better in terms of yards – it’s nowhere near as sad as it was throughout last season – but the offensive line isn’t as good, the running game is being bottled up, and it’s the same old Northwestern in terms of needing to control the game, rely on the defense, and hope and pray everything goes its way.

The Wildcat Jedi mind tricks work on the weak, but there’s one problem with that this week – Nebraska isn’t screwing up.

 

It didn’t force any takeaways against Nebraska and finished a -1 in turnover margin, but it’s a whopping +6 on the year overall with just two giveaways. Northwestern isn’t going to move the ball well enough to get involved in any sort of a shootout, and worst of all for the Wildcat way of life, it’s not controlling the time of possession.

 

The stats are a bit skewed because Oregon prefers to hold on to the ball for about five minutes a game, but Nebraska has been outstanding at maintaining control so far, and getting it back when it’s in a little bit of trouble, keeping the ball for over 33 minutes a game and doing a wonderful job on third downs.

 

Why Northwestern Will Win

Northwestern has a way of bringing you down to its level.

For good and for bad, the Wildcats always seem to grind games down to a dead stop against the teams without elite skill and talent. Nebraska might end this fast with a few early scores, but if Northwestern is being Northwestern, this will be a sluggish game that’s still close well into the fourth quarter.

 

The NU run defense has been excellent so far and the decent Western Michigan and Duke offenses never quite got going, and the should be the way this week works, too. Stop the run, hope Tommy Armstrong is a sub-50% passer like he was against Nebraska, and control the field position battle.

 

The Wildcat punting game so far has been fantastic, and the defense has done an outstanding job of almost never breaking after bending a bit too much. Obviously, the tragic loss of Sam Foltz has everything to do with it, but the Nebraska punting game has been an issue so far, and against this Wildcat team, it can’t be.

 

What’s Going To Happen?

It’s going to be a really, really frustrating first few quarters for Nebraska.

There will be a few too many missed opportunities, drives will stall, and it’ll seem like the Huskers will be just one play away from busting things wide open. That’ll finally happen in the second half when Armstrong starts making more plays with his legs, and then, the dam will break.

 

Northwestern will have a shot in the fourth quarter to pull this off, it won’t do it, and three plays later the Huskers will put it away on a deep ball to Jordan Westerkamp.

 

Nebraska 26 - Northwestern 16

 

(Part 2)

http://collegefootballnews.com/2016/week-4-college-football-expert-picks-predictions

 

Fiu - N

Russ - N

Rich - N*

Phil - N

Crow - N

Con - N

Dave - NW

Jere - N

Chris - N

Schmo - N

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BTN.com

http://btn.com/2016/09/21/polls-its-time-to-pick-your-week-4-big-ten-winners/

 

Tom Dienhart: Nebraska 30 - Northwestern 24

Sean Merman: Nebraska 31 - Northwestern 27

Brent Yarina: Nebraska 27 - Northwestern 20

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CBSSports.com

http://www.cbssports.com/collegefootball/features/writers/expert/picks/straight-up/4

 

Dennis Dodd - N*

Jon Solomon - N

Jerry Palm - N

Tom Fornelli - N

Robby Kalland - N

Ben Kercheval - N

Chip Patterson - N*

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Big Red Wrap-Upesp

http://netnebraska.org/interactive-multimedia/sports/big-red-wrap-northwestern-prediction-3

 

Kevin Kugler: Nebraska 24 - Northwestern 17

Blake Lawrence: Nebraska 31 - Northwestern 20

Damon Benning: Nebraska 31 - Northwestern 17

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Daily Nebraskan

http://www.dailynebraskan.com/sports/football-score-predictions-nebraska-vs-northwestern/article_4d2d9d10-7e12-11e6-b4f0-4b274480786f.html

 

Brett Nierengarten: Nebraska 27 - Northwestern 24

Riley Bowden: Nebraska 34 - Northwestern 17

Michael Dixon: Nebraska 42 - Northwestern 17

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Athlon Sports

http://athlonsports.com/college-football/predicting-which-team-will-win-every-game-week-4-college-football-2016

 

Steven Lassan: N

Mitch Light : N

Bryan Fischer: N

Jim Weber: N

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ESPN FPI

http://www.espn.com/college-football/game?gameId=400869660

 

Nebraska 71.5% Win

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ESPN Big Ten Blog

http://www.espn.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/136769/b1g-week-4-picks-can-badgers-upset-sparty

 

Unanimous Nebraska Win.

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AP - Ralph D Russo

http://collegefootball.ap.org/article/college-picks-louisville-goes-main-event-side-stage

 

The Wildcats are averaging 4.8 yards per play. No other Big Ten is averaging less than 5.1.

 

Nebraska 31 - Northwestern 17

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FootballStudyHall

http://www.footballstudyhall.com/2016/9/22/13013706/college-football-week-4-schedule-tv-listings-predictions

 

S&P+: Nebraska 32.7 - Northwestern 24.6

F+: Nebraska by 5.6

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FEI Projections

http://www.bcftoys.com/2016-game-projections/

 

Nebraska 29 - Northwestern 16

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[Sparker]

Dave is such an a-hole!

[ADS]

I think a 2014 type of game is what to expect.

[austinhusker]

I honestly don't see this one being close. Huskers roll.

[ColoradoHusk]

I think a 2014 type of game is what to expect.

I saw a tweet this morning saying that in NU's 5 matchups against NW, the one time NU won the turnover battle against NW was 2014. When NU turned the ball over and let NW have cheap points, it was a close game with 2 NU losses, and 2 miraculous NU come back victories.

 

So, if NU plays clean, NU should win easily.

[GSG]

Dave - NW

 

[knapplc]

Gotta be alert here.

 

[Saunders]

No. 20 Nebraska Cornhuskers at Northwestern Wildcats (Under 48.5):

 

I was burned by Boston College last week, and it isn't here this week, but it's not because I'm scared off by the Virginia Tech game. It's only because BC is playing Wagner, so I can't get a line on it. Instead, we're turning to another old favorite when it comes to betting unders: Northwestern. The under has hit in all three Northwestern games this year and in six of its last seven. Nebraska's been pretty under friendly itself as of late, as the under has come through in two of its three games this year and four of its last five games.

 

Nebraska 24 - Northwestern 13

 

http://www.cbssports.com/college-football/news/pick-six-wisconsin-arkansas-can-come-through-as-road-dogs-against-top-10-teams/

 

[Mavric]

[huskerfan92]

 

Did Sipple take a Valium before this segment?

[Redux]

New Huskerboard insult when someone is trolling:

 

"You're being such a Dave right now!"

[Mavric]

 

[wiuhusker]

I don't see anyway that the same defense that held Oregon to 32 is giving up anything more than 10-14 to NW. Not saying that guarantees us a win (see Illinois last year) but it definitely gives us a much better chance to win. I think Riley and Langs have figured out what they want from Tommy.

 

NU- 31

NW-10

[admo]

I don't see anyway that the same defense that held Oregon to 32 is giving up anything more than 10-14 to NW. Not saying that guarantees us a win (see Illinois last year) but it definitely gives us a much better chance to win. I think Riley and Langs have figured out what they want from Tommy.

 

NU- 31

NW-10

I really agree with you. If you can keep Oregon to 32 points, which did not come easy for the Ducks, you should hold most teams under 20. Against NWU, maybe 16 or less (1st road game).

[I am I]

48-14.

 

But only 17-7 at half