Oho State Buckeyes (5-1 SU, 2-3 ATS) vs. Nebraska Cornhuskers (3-3 SU, 2-4 ATS)
NCAA Week 7
Date/Time: Saturday, October 14, 2017 at 7:30 P.M. EST
Where: Memorial Stadium
TV: Fox Sports 1
by Jerbeek, Expert Football Handicapper, Predictem.com
Point Spread: OSU -24/Neb +24
Over/Under Total: 58
The Ohio State Buckeyes and the Nebraska Cornhuskers will meet in Big 10 conference play on Saturday night. Nebraska is coming off a 38-17 loss to Wisconsin at home last week. The score was tied 17-17 after the Cornhuskers got a pick 6 late in the 3rd quarter. At that point the Badgers decided to go to the run game and Nebraska could not slow them down and gave up the last 21 points of the game. Ohio State is coming off a 62-14 thrashing of Maryland and looks to keep their chances of National Title alive despite an early season loss to Oklahoma. The Cornhuskers traveled to Columbus last year to take on the Buckeyes and got throttled by a score of 62-3.
Ohio State is led by Heisman candidate JT Barrett who has completed 63.8% of his passes and has a TD/Interception ratio of 16/1. Barrett has added 311 yards on the ground while starting RB J.K. Dobbins has amassed 669 yards and 4 touchdowns. Parris Campbell is the leading receiver for the Buckeyes with 26 receptions for 399 yards and 2 touchdowns.
The Cornhuskers are led by QB Tanner Lee who is a Jr. transfer from Tulane. Lee had a lot of hype coming into the season but as struggled mightily the first 6 games throwing 10 interceptions and only 11 touchdowns. Incredibly, 4 of those interceptions have been returned for touchdowns. One of the keys for Nebraska is to protect the QB and that has been a struggle all season as the Cornhuskers are using several inexperienced lineman. The Cornhusker are expected to use a RB committee as starting RB Tre Bryant has missed the last 5 games with injury but is hoping to be back. Bryant rushed for 192 yards in the first game of the season and was having a good game against Oregon before injuring his knee. If Bryant cant go the duties will fall to Mikale Wilbon and Devine Ozigbo. Ozigbo saw his first action of the season in week 4 and responded with 101 yards on 24 carries and followed that up with 106 yards rushing against Illinois and 112 yards against Wisconsin. Nebraskas leading receiver is Stanley Morgan who made 4 catches for 115 yards and a touchdown in the loss to Wisconsin. Nebraska got a huge addition in the secondary as safety Chris Jones returned against Wisconsin. Jones was expected to be one of the Huskers top defenders
this season but injured a knee over the summer and missed the first 5 games of the season.
Make the Huskers a +44 undedog by inserting them into a massive 20 point college football teaser found at 5Dimes!
Ohio State is very explosive on offense as they average 6.1 yards per rush against teams that average giving up 4.3 yards per play. The Buckeyes have also been successful when they throw the ball as they are averaging 8.9 yards per attempt against teams that give up 7.2 yards. Overall the Buckeyes average 7.4 yards per play against teams that give up 5.6 yards per play.
With the struggles of Tanner Lee, Nebraska has leaned on the rushing game a bit more in their last 2 wins against Rutgers and Illinois however they had to go back to throwing against Wisconsin as they found the running game a bit tougher. The Cornhuskers have averaged 4.2 yards per rush against teams that average 3.6 yards per rush. Nebraska has had some success passing but that has been offset from all the interceptions. The Cornhuskers have gained 6.9 yards per pass attempt against teams that give up 6.6 yards per play. Overall the Huskers are bit above average as they have gained 5.5 yards per play against teams that give up 5.0 yards per play.
Ohio State has been very good defending the run game as they averaged giving only 2.9 yards per rush against teams that average 5.2 yards. In the passing game they have given up 6.0 yards per attempt against teams that average 7.8 yards per pass attempt. Overall they have allowed only 4.2 yards per play against teams that average 6.1 yards per play.
On defense, Nebraska spent a lot of money to bring in Defensive Coordinator Bob Diaco. The defense struggled early, especially in the first half against Oregon when they gave up 42 points; however, the Blackshirt defense has improved immensely in the past 4 games and have actually been keeping Nebraska in games. The Nebraska defense has held opponents to 4.3 yards rushing against teams that average 4.4 yards. In the passing game they have given up 6.7 yards per attempt against teams that average 7.2 yards. Overall they have given up 5.4 yards per play against teams that average 5.6 yards indicating that overall the Huskers have been a bit above average despite the perception that they have really struggled.
Ohio State has won the last 2 meetings and scored over 60 points in both games. The talent gap has been very significant in those matchups. Nebraska has not been a tough underdog as they are only 3-9 SU the past 3 years when getting points; however, they 6-5 ATS in those games.
Jerbeeks Pick to Cover the Point Spread: Last week I predicted a 20 point win by the Badgers and took home the money with a pick on the Wisconsin. This week I am going to switch it up and go with Nebraska. This pick is not based on stats because Ohio State should annihilate Nebraska based on stats. The first reason I am backing Nebraska is that Ohio State has a huge next game (after their bye) with Penn State and may be looking ahead. The other reason is that I live in Lincoln and everyone here and on local talk radio is talking about how this will be a blowout so in contrarian style I am going to back the Cornhuskers in this game. I think Nebraska will lose but stay within the number by scoring some points. I will go with a final score of 41-24. My recommendation is to play Nebraska plus the 24 points. Bet your pick for FREE by taking advantage of a massive 100% bonus on your first deposit of $100 to $500 at GTBets.