*** 2017 Game 3 "Expert" Picks: Northern Illinois at Nebraska***

[Saunders]

2017 Game 3 “Expert” Picks: Northern Illinois @ Nebraska
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CollegeFootballNews.com

http://collegefootballnews.com/2017/09/nebraska-vs-northern-illinois-fearless-prediction-game-preview

Can Nebraska finally come up with a good performance?
It made things interesting against Oregon with a late run after an awful first half, but the 42-35 loss was still a problem for a defense that had problems putting away Arkansas State the week before. Northern Illinois came painfully close to getting past Boston College to kick things off, dominated Eastern Illinois last week, and now has an honest shot of coming up with a big win over a name team. If the Huskers are as shaky as they’ve been over the first two weeks, they can absolutely lose to the MAC team. And this is a good MAC team.

One Reason Why Nebraska Will Win
Northern Illinois is having a whole slew of problems sinning.
This isn’t a good enough team to get away with a whole slew of big mistakes, but last week it was able to roll past Eastern Illinois – because it’s Eastern Illinois – despite turning the ball over three times and committing a whopping 15 penalties for 194 yards. On the year, NIU has given up two blocked kicks, committed 23 penalties, and hasn’t been nearly tight enough overall to win a game like this on the road. However …

One Reason Why Northern Illinois Will Win
Nebraska hasn’t exactly been tight with the ball, either.QB Tanner Lee might have a ton of talent and a live arm, but he’s also been painfully inaccurate at times, hitting just 52% of his passes on the year with four picks thrown to Oregon. On the other side, the Nebraska pass defense has been a nightmare, allowing 390 yards per game with a whole lot of deep plays. NIU QB Daniel Santacaterina is a mobile playmaker, but he showed against EIU that he could throw a little bit, cranking 252 yards and three scores. At the very least, the Huskies have to throw early just to test things out early on.

What’s Going To Happen
Nebraska isn’t going to be pretty in any way, but there’s just enough pop from the offense in spurts to get past a Northern Illinois team that’ll shoot itself in the foot way too often to pull off the upset.

Nebraska 30 - Northern Illinois 20
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BTN.com

http://btn.com/2017/09/13/polls-its-time-to-pick-your-week-3-big-ten-football-winners

Tom Dienhart: Nebraska 34 - Northern Illinois 21

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ESPN FPI
http://www.espn.com/college-football/game?gameId=400935354

Nebraska - 85.5% Win
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SBNation/Bill Connelly S&P+
https://www.sbnation.com/college-football/2017/9/14/16306316/college-football-picks-week-3-2017-predictions-odds-spreads

S&P+: Nebraska 34 - Norther Illinois  22 (74.8% Nebraska Win)
F+ Projection: Nebraska by 14 (79.4% Nebraska Win)
Adjusted S&P+: Nebraska by 17 (83.9% Nebraska Win)
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Athlon Sports
https://athlonsports.com/college-football/college-football-picks-expert-predictions-every-game-week-3-2017

Steven Lassan: N
Mitch Light : N
Bryan Fischer: N

https://athlonsports.com/college-football/northern-illinois-huskies-vs-nebraska-cornhuskers-prediction-and-preview-2017

Nebraska quarterback Tanner Lee is in need of a quick turnaround this week. After a rough outing at Oregon — he threw four interceptions — Lee will look to regain his composure and regain the confidence of Mike Riley and the fans. NIU may play some stingy defense, but Nebraska should still have the advantage when on offense. Look for Tre Bryant to have another strong day running the ball and to make some of the pivotal plays in a Nebraska victory.

Nebraska 42 - Northern Illinois 28

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Big Red Wrap-Up
http://netnebraska.org/interactive-multimedia/sports/big-red-wrap-northern-illinois-prediction

Kevin Kugler: Nebraska 41 - Northern Illinois 24
Blake Lawrence: Nebraska 31 - Northern Illinois 27
Damon Benning: Nebraska 41 - Northern Illinois 20
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Daily Nebraskan
http://www.dailynebraskan.com/sports/football-score-predictions-nebraska-vs-northern-illinois/article_76c8daa0-969d-11e7-9ad1-93a2ef03bcee.html

Greg Harmon: Nebraska 41 - Northern Illinois 10
Zach Markon: Nebraska 31 - Northern Illinois 21
Anna Gleason: Nebraska 24 - Northern Illinois 17
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[spurs1990]

That's a lot of close predictions

 

[admo]

This a 11:30 game, right?  Those early one's make me nervous.

 

[spurs1990]

This a 11:30 game, right?  Those early one's make me nervous.

11:00 I think

 

[Mavric]

[No message]

 

[Kiyoat Husker]

This game started at -14.5 and has slowly moved to -14, now -13.

The O/U is now 56.

(5Dimes site)

 

[Mavric]

 

[brophog]

That's a lot of close predictions

Wont be anywhere near that close. This is the false hope game.

 

[Dansker]

I'm the only one who thinks we will lose a close game. I don't think either Arkansas State or Oregon are that good. We are just that bad, IMO. I think NIU is going to destroy our ridiculous soft coverage and lacking pass rush.

 

[Kiyoat Husker]

This game started at -14.5 and has slowly moved to -14, now -13.

The O/U is now 56.

(5Dimes site)

Now -12.5

confidence waning for Huskers.  I'm guessing the "sharps" will be watching this line drop, and take the Huskers (and the money) right before the game...

 

[niu007]

I assume the injuries for the Huskers made the line drop a little. I don't know any other reason it would drop like that just now.

This one is a real gamble. Could be anywhere from a close win by NIU, very unlikely, to a steamrolling, if our young QB starts throwing interceptions or otherwise plays poorly.

Also, we have a RB (Huff) that has averaged about 7 ypc over his career but he splits time with other RBs. If he got 20+ carries we'd have a better shot. Our coach isn't very good at talent evaluation I think, at QB certainly, and probably RB too.