The Nebraska Cornhuskers fell out of the Top 25 in a hurry after getting pushed around by both Wisconsin and Minnesota in consecutive losses. Bo Pelini’s bunch will try to regroup and end the regular season on a positive note on Friday afternoon in Iowa City against the Iowa Hawkeyes. The Hawkeyes have quietly put together a decent 7-4 campaign with a 4-3 conference record. This game could have bowl placement implications as Iowa would jump Nebraska in the Big Ten West Division with a win.
Nebraska vs. Iowa College Football Preview
Date/Time: Friday November 28, 12:00 p.m. ET
TV: ABC
College Football Betting Odds from WagerWeb
College Football Betting Favorite: Iowa PK
Total: 56
Bo Pelini is in danger of seeing his streak of nine or more wins in a season end at six. The Cornhuskers need a win here to reach nine victories or will have to, in all likelihood, beat an SEC team in a bowl game to get there. With an 8-3 record this season, the Huskers are now 65-27 straight up under Pelini and 47-43-2 against the spread. Kirk Ferentz is assured of another winning season at Iowa. That’s now eight winning seasons out of the last 11 for Ferentz. The Hawkeyes are 6-5 ATS this season and have a chance at a winning ATS record for just the second time in the last five seasons.
Nebraska Cornhuskers:
A week after allowing Melvin Gordon to rush for over 400 yards in three quarters, the Cornhuskers run defense allowed 281 yards to the Minnesota Golden Gophers in a 28-24 loss. Fortunately for John Papuchis, Iowa’s running attack doesn’t possess the same dominating qualities that Wisconsin and Minnesota exhibited. Iowa is still averaging 400 yards of total offense per game, so this isn’t exactly a cakewalk for the Huskers D. Offensively, they need to get better. The Huskers have passed for less than 200 yards per game behind Tommy Armstrong and they have been stymied by any decent defense that they have run into. Against Michigan State, Wisconsin, and Minnesota, the Huskers scored just 70 points. In their eight wins, they have scored 342 points. Ameer Abdullah is not healthy, but the Huskers certainly need him to get going. He was held under 100 yards for the second straight game.
Iowa Hawkeyes:
The Iowa Hawkeyes have taken advantage of a weak schedule to get bowl eligible this season with their 7-4 record. Iowa avoided Ohio State and Michigan State in conference play and the best team they played in the non-conference slate is either Pitt or Iowa State. Considering the level of competition, a 7-4 record isn’t particularly impressive from Kirk Ferentz’s team. The Hawkeyes will need to regroup after nearly knocking off Wisconsin last week at home, but they fell short by a 26-24 score. One of the reasons that the Hawkeyes are 7-4 this season is because they have taken care of the football. Quarterbacks Jake Rudock and CJ Beathard have a combined TD/INT ratio of 17/5 and a 62.8 percent completion percentage. Mark Weisman has 14 rushing touchdowns and the Hawkeyes have benefitted from a methodical rushing attack averaging four yards per carry. Defensively, Iowa has held opponents to 22.8 points per game, which falls in line with their averages over the last three seasons. The level of competition has something to do with it as well.
Free Pick: Iowa
Once again, the Cornhuskers take on a physical opponent and they may not be able to match Iowa’s physicality after getting beaten down the last two weeks by Wisconsin and Minnesota. Iowa throws the ball a little bit more than those other teams and they do it with a lot of play action. After getting gashed by the run two straight weeks, the defense may be cheating against the run and that could open up some chunk plays in the passing game for Rudock.
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