Saunders Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 2022 Game 6 “Expert” Picks: Nebraska @ Rutgers ————— CollegeFootballNews.com Why Rutgers Will Win Yes, Nebraska was able to come up with a win over Indiana but it wasn’t able to run the ball. It ripped off runs in chunks against North Dakota and Georgia Southern, but it couldn’t do anything against Oklahoma and was stuffed too often by the Hoosiers. Rutgers got run over by Ohio State, but that’s Ohio State. Against everyone else the Scarlet Knight defensive front was a brick wall. Granted, it didn’t deal with anyone who could pound, but beating Boston College and holding up against Iowa wasn’t horrible. Combine that with a strong secondary and lots of plays on third downs, and Nebraska will stall way too often. Why Nebraska Will Win The Huskers finally got to exhale a bit. The pressure was off, they had too weeks to let everything calm down, and what did they do? They were able to win a tight game for once. It was 21 all against Indiana in the fourth quarter, and everything was set up for yet another close loss when the team turned into Jell-O. Instead, Nebraska got a huge pass play and another scoring drive to win by 14. Did that signal any sort of a change? Is it simply a case of the team needing to actually know it could do it? That might be a bit of a reach, but the offense is moving the chains, there are plenty of big plays, and this week the defense gets a break against a Rutgers offense that’s struggling to find anything that works. But … What’s Going To Happen Can Rutgers stop turning the ball over and go back to being the defense that takes it away in bunches? It had to press against Iowa and Ohio State, and then bad things started to happen. Nebraska defense doesn’t take the ball away, and the offense has given it up multiple times in every game against Georgia Southern. The Huskers will dominate the game in total yards, but time and again the Rutgers defense will hold firm and/or force a big mistake. It won’t be anything pretty, but the Scarlet Knights will take it. Ruters 24 - Nebraska 23 ————— ESPN FPI Rutgers - 54.6% Win ————— DRatings Nebraska 27 - Rutgers 22 Nebraska - 59.8% Win ————— ESPN Bill Connelly SP+ Nebraska 27 - Rutgers 25 Nebraska - 54% Win ————— Big Red Wrap Up Mike’l Severe: Nebraska 27 - Rutgers 17 Jay Moore: Nebraska 24 - Rutgers 20 Damon Benning: Nebraska 24 - Rutgers 23 ————— Athlon Sports Steven Lassan: N Mark Ross: N Ben Weinrib: N ————— Omaha World Herald - Sam McKewon Nebraska 24 - Rutgers 20 ————— Bleacher Report Nebraska 28 - Rutgers 17 ————— HuskerOnline Sean Callahan: Nebraska 31 - Rutgers 24 Steven Sipple: Nebraska 24 - Rutgers 20 Andy Kendeigh: Nebraska 27 - Rutgers 20 Jim Rose: Nebraska 27 - Rutgers 17 ————— NJ.com Brian Fonesca: Ruters 38 - Nebraska 31 Pat Lanni: Nebraska 24 - Rutgers 17 Steve Polti: Nebraska 24 - Rutgers 20 ————— Dallas Morning News Scott Bell: N Felisa Cardenas: N Chuck Carlton: R Corby Davidson: N Joseph Hoyt: R Selby Lopez: N Newy Scruggs: N ————— Husker247 Mike Schaefer: Nebraska 24 - Rutgers 16 Brian Christopherson: Nebraska 23 - Rutgers 20 Michael Bruntz: Nebraska 25 - Rutgers 23 ————— More to come!!! 2 Quote Link to comment
BigRedBuster Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 IF our defense plays like they did last week or slightly improved, I don't see Rutgers scoring more than 10-14 points. Then, it's a decision on if I believe our offense can score more than that. We are averaging 31.4 points per game. I think we win this game by at least 7 points. 2 4 Quote Link to comment
Undone Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 Interesting that none of these pundits predict us scoring more than 27 points. 1 Quote Link to comment
whateveritis1224 Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 I’m more with Severe on this game. If last week turns out to be a corner turn and the team starts playing up to expectations, then they could get a good run of games. 1 1 Quote Link to comment
BigRedBuster Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 3 minutes ago, Undone said: Interesting that none of these pundits predict us scoring more than 27 points. Yeah...this is the same defense that allowed Iowa to score 27. Yes...the same Iowa that this was the maximum they have scored all year. The same Iowa that's averaging 16 points per game. 1 1 1 Quote Link to comment
Hilltop Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 3 minutes ago, Undone said: Interesting that none of these pundits predict us scoring more than 27 points. They have played pretty good defense this year prior to ohio State who tends to make everyone look bad. They honestly didn't perform that bad against them if you look at total yards. Their rush defense has been stout but they have been vulnerable to the pass. Just now, BigRedBuster said: Yeah...this is the same defense that allowed Iowa to score 27. Yes...the same Iowa that this was the maximum they have scored all year. The same Iowa that's averaging 16 points per game. That had way more to do with Iowa's defense. They only gained 277 yards total against them. Quote Link to comment
BigRedBuster Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 5 minutes ago, Hilltop said: That had way more to do with Iowa's defense. They only gained 277 yards total against them. Holy Crap...you're right. Their defense scored 14 of those points. 1 1 Quote Link to comment
BaytownHusker Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 Huskers 34-14. I think the defense will continue to improve just simply by allowing them to play more freely. 1 1 Quote Link to comment
BigRedBuster Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 3 minutes ago, BaytownHusker said: Huskers 34-14. I think the defense will continue to improve just simply by allowing them to play more freely. I am absolutely not a defensive guru. So, I'm wondering since they simplified the defense and they were able to play more freely, is it simplified enough that now OCs can scheme against it easier now that they've seen it in one game? 1 Quote Link to comment
BaytownHusker Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 2 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said: I am absolutely not a defensive guru. So, I'm wondering since they simplified the defense and they were able to play more freely, is it simplified enough that now OCs can scheme against it easier now that they've seen it in one game? One would think that and I agree with those thoughts. If so hopefully that's where we will see how well our DC can adjust. But i feel it will be much easier task when your not having to look into your dictionary to figure out what the play call was. 1 Quote Link to comment
Hilltop Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 1 minute ago, BigRedBuster said: I am absolutely not a defensive guru. So, I'm wondering since they simplified the defense and they were able to play more freely, is it simplified enough that now OCs can scheme against it easier now that they've seen it in one game? Indiana was sure able to on a few drives. Once we went man coverage in the red zone, we allowed a couple pretty dang easy touchdowns. We adjusted and that helped a lot but what you are saying has some merit. However, against teams like Rutgers, we should be ok. Against Purdue, we are going to have to be much better at disguising coverages to be effective. 1 Quote Link to comment
teachercd Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 12 minutes ago, BigRedBuster said: I am absolutely not a defensive guru. So, I'm wondering since they simplified the defense and they were able to play more freely, is it simplified enough that now OCs can scheme against it easier now that they've seen it in one game? Maybe, not to be super lame and boring but IU runs way different stuff than RU, so when you watch that film of NU vs IU the RU coaches won't see a ton of similar formations from IU that they would be running this Friday. So you are basically trying to see how the team you are playing is going to line up (you hope) vs the sets you run on offense. RU won't see a ton of that from the IU game. Like in the clip, Lane knew from seeing how Mizzo lined up to things (on film) that this play was going for 6 IF Mizzo came out lined up the same way they had in film prep. 1 Quote Link to comment
admo Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 Coin toss game. Do the Huskers score 33-40 points on the road in B1G games? Do the Huskers win on the road enough to say it should happen? How many points do you need to win the game? I am excited to sit back and watch it unfold. I cannot tell you or myself who should win or who will win. And that is what makes it exciting. Because you just don't know what Husker team will show up. Win Friday night in New Jersey?? Ok, Ok... go do it. I'll be watching with Husker fam across the nation. TV primetime college football....Friday Night... Go Big Red!!! 1 1 Quote Link to comment
runningblind Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 We haven't won a road game in 2 years, have not won the second half of a two game win streak on the road since 2019, and have not beaten two P5 teams in a row since 2018. Rutgers has a pretty good defense, so I'll believe it when I see it. Rutgers 24-21. 2 Quote Link to comment
Undone Posted October 5, 2022 Share Posted October 5, 2022 1 hour ago, BigRedBuster said: I am absolutely not a defensive guru. So, I'm wondering since they simplified the defense and they were able to play more freely, is it simplified enough that now OCs can scheme against it easier now that they've seen it in one game? I've wondered if the "we simplified the defense" rhetoric maybe had as much to do with just giving something to the media that sounded good as anything. The adjustments we made that in my opinion made all the difference against Indiana were: 1. Having our secondary play tighter to the LoS. 2. Being a bit more aggressive with the blitz. It's hard as a fan to know how many different "calls" Chinander actually had in his playbook. 1 Quote Link to comment
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