Nebraska Cornhuskers(1-0SU,0-1ATS) vs.Oregon Ducks(1-0SU,1-0ATS)
College Football Week2
Date and Time:September 9, 2017 3:30pm EST
Where:Autzen Stadium
TV:Fox
byJerbeek,NCAA Football Handicapper, Predictem.com
Point Spread:Neb +14/Ore -14
Over/Under Total: 69.5
The Cornhuskers and Ducks will go at it again in Eugene, Oregon this year after Nebraska squeaked out a 35-32 win over Oregon last year in Lincoln. Nebraska is coming off a close win last week against Arkansas State where they had to hold off the Red Wolves on the games final play to preserve a 43-36 victory as a 14 point favorite. Oregon is coming off a thrashing of Southern Utah, winning 77-21 as 31 point favorites.
The Cornhuskers are led by 3rd year coach Mike Riley who is no stranger to the Ducks after his many years at Oregon State. Nebraska has a new Defensive Coordinator this year in Bob Diaco who was the former UConn head coach and former Defensive Coordinator at Notre Dame. Diaco has implemented a new scheme as the Huskers are changing from a 4-3 defense to a 3-4 defense. The Ducks are led by 1st year coach Willie Taggart who was hired after a disappointing 4-8 season in 2016.
On offense, Oregon appears to have another explosive version as they amassed 703 yards with an average of 8.9 yards per play last week. They showed good balance with 348 yards rushing, led by Royce Freemans 150 yards and 355 yards passing. QB Justin Herbert was very accurate completing 81% of his throws. Nebraska also had a balanced attack led by Tulane transfer Tanner Lee who threw for 248 yards. The Cornhuskers also ran for 225 yards led by Sophomore RB Tre Bryant. The Cornhuskers averaged 6.6 yards per play.
The question marks arise on defense as the new bend but dont break defensive scheme for Nebraska struggled a bit last week against Arkansas State as the Blackshirts gave up 497 yards and really struggled to stop the short passing game. Nebraska gave up an average of 5.6 yards per play. Oregon was pretty stingy on defense last week giving up only 4.2 yards per play and were especially tough against the run as they only allowed 2.6 yards per rush but I think Nebraska will give them a bit more of a challenge.
Special teams was also big in the game last week for Nebraska in both a good and bad way. The Huskers gave up a punt return for a Touchdown but then on the ensuing kickoff, Redshirt Freshman J.D Spielman returned the kickoff for a 99 yard touchdown on his first touch as a collegiate player. Nebraska has a solid kicking game with punter Caleb Lightbourne and potential All-America placekicker Drew Brown. Oregon also has a solid kicking game with placekicker Erick Powell and punter Brian Sweet.
Nebraskas defense has taken a lot of heat from the media with their performance from last week but many people feel that they may have been holding back a bit for this week. Nebraska will need to find more pressure and I think they will be much more active with blitzing then they were in week 1. The key to this game will be the Oregon offense vs the Nebraska defense. If Nebraska plays a soft zone like last week it may turn into a track meet for the Oregon Offense; however, I think the Blackshirts will show up and play much more inspired this week for Nebraska.
Jerbeek’sPick to Cover the Point Spread:I am going to go with the generous 14 points in this game. The advance line on this game was Oregon -6 but it shot up after the disappointing week 1 performance by the Nebraska defense. I always like to grab double digit points when you have a dog that has a good offense. I think that the Nebraska offense will score 30+ points in this game and I look for a similar type score to last year but with Oregon prevailing by a field goal. Lets go with a score reversal from last year and say Oregon 35 Nebraska 32 meaning you should bet the Cornhuskers +14.
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