Nebraska vs. Northwestern Fearless Prediction, Game Preview

By Pete Fiutak | October 1, 2019 8:53 pm CT

Nebraska vs. Northwestern fearless prediction and game preview.

Nebraska vs. Northwestern Broadcast

Date: Saturday, October 5
Game Time: 4:00 ET
Venue: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, NE
Network: FOX

Nebraska (3-2) vs. Northwestern (1-3) Game Preview

Why Northwestern Will Win

Remember when Nebraska couldn’t stop giving the ball away early last season? It’s even worse this time around.

The Huskers gave it up two times or more in seven games last year, including three times in the collapse against the Wildcats. After losing 22 turnovers, how is the offense doing this year? It’s given it up 14 times with three or more in four of the five games.

Northwestern needs those mistakes to happen early and often.

The defense hasn’t been all that bad overall, but the offense isn’t working even a little bit. The more easy drives, the better.

The Nebraska offensive line isn’t doing enough to keep defenses out of the backfield, the offense has been hit-or-miss in terms of consistency, and …

Why Nebraska Will Win

Northwestern’s offense is AWFUL.

Yeah, the Huskers might not have the team many were hoping for, and the offense hasn’t been quite as amazing as expected, but before the Ohio State loss, the O was still able to score.

Northwestern? It scored 30 on a miserable UNLV team, and hasn’t done anything against anyone else.

Eventually, once he’s able to settle down and relax a bit, QB Hunter Johnson will be terrific. But for right now, he’s not able to do much of anything – failing to connect on half of his passes so far with one touchdown pass and four picks.

As always, this is a plucky team that finds ways to drag opponents down to its level – witness the way-too-tough-to-put-away fight for Wisconsin last week – but it shouldn’t take more than a few early Husker scores to apply the knockout punch.

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What’s Going To Happen

This will be a far cry from the amazing 34-31 thriller Northwestern pulled off to get by Nebraska last year.

The Huskers won’t explode, but they’ll do what they need to early on, and the nation’s least-efficient passing game from Northwestern won’t be able to answer. The Wildcats won’t let this get out of hand – and they’ll battle back to make it interesting in the second half after coming up with two takeaways – but they simply won’t have the scoring punch to finish the drill.

Nebraska vs. Northwestern Prediction, Line

Nebraska 30, Northwestern 20
Bet on Nebraska vs NU with BetMGM, or for latest line
Nebraska -6.5, o/u: 50.5
ATS Confidence out of 5: 2
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Must See Rating: 3

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2019 Nebraska Football Schedule

2019 Record: 3-2
2019 Preseason Prediction: 7-5
2019 Preseason Big Ten Prediction: 5-4
2018 Record: 4-8

Aug. 31 South Alabama W 35-21
Sept. 7 at Colorado L 34-31
Sept. 14 Northern Illinois W 44-8
Sept. 21 at Illinois W 42-38
Sept. 28 Ohio State L 48-7
Oct. 5 Northwestern W
Oct. 12 at Minnesota L
Oct. 19 OPEN DATE
Oct. 26 Indiana W
Nov. 2 at Purdue L
Nov. 9 OPEN DATE
Nov. 16 Wisconsin L
Nov. 23 at Maryland L
Nov. 30 Iowa W

2019 Northwestern Football Schedule

2019 Record: 1-3
2019 Preseason Prediction: 6-6
2019 Preseason Big Ten Prediction: 3-6
2018 Record: 9-5

Aug. 31 at Stanford L 17-7
Sept. 7 OPEN DATE
Sept. 14 UNLV W 30-14
Sept. 21 Michigan State L 31-10
Sept. 28 at Wisconsin L 24-15
Oct. 5 at Nebraska L
Oct. 12 OPEN DATE
Oct. 18 Ohio State L
Oct. 26 Iowa W
Nov. 2 at Indiana L
Nov. 9 Purdue W
Nov. 16 UMass W
Nov. 23 Minnesota W
Nov. 30 at Illinois L