Idaho at Nebraska Spread
Written by Jack Jones - Google +
The Nebraska Cornhuskers look for another home victory Saturday as they take on the Idaho Vandals. Both teams opened the season 1-0, with Nebraska throttling Western Kentucky 49-10 and Idaho taking care of North Dakota 45-0. BetUS has listed odds of Nebraska -28 over Idaho in this contest.
Taylor Martinez took the starting quarterback job and ran with it last weekend. Bo Pelini didn’t announce before the game who would start, and many expected it to be Zac Lee. But in the end, it was Martinez’s dual-threat ability that won him the job. And that was on full display Saturday as he rushed for 127 yards and 3 touchdowns while throwing for another 136 yards on 9-of-15 passing. His teammates are so impressed with him that they have given Martinez the nickname T-Magic. Rex Burkhead chipped in 104 rushing yards and a touchdown Saturday to help lead the offense in the blowout.
Pelini was not particularly happy with his defense, in fact he called their effort an embarrassment. Western Kentucky came into the contest on a 20-game losing streak, yet they still managed to rush for 179 yards as a team against the Cornhuskers. Other than Ndamukong Suh and Phillip Dillard, this was virtually the same Nebraska defense that ranked 9th in the country against the run last year.
Getting most of the hype this Saturday will be Idaho quarterback Nathan Enderle. He is from North Platte, Nebraska and was actually recruited by the Huskers before deciding to stick with his decision to play for the Vandals. His first two seasons here were ones he would like to forget, combined to throw for a total of 35 interceptions in 2007 and 2008. But he came on strong in 2009, throwing 22 touchdowns to just nine interceptions and helped lead Idaho to an 8-5 record and a thrilling victory in the Humanitarian Bowl.
Coach Robb Akey has admitted that Enderle is especially fired up to play this game, and if he tries to do too much this one could get out of hand in a hurry. But if Enderle can play within himself, this one could be a lot closer than the experts are predicting. He was particularly sharp last Saturday, completing 24-of-37 passes for 311 yards against North Dakota. The defense registered their first shutout since 1997, so Akey is certainly happy with this unit heading into Saturday.
Jack’s Free Prediction: Idaho +28 – I went with Nebraska to get the cover as 33.5-point favorites last week against Western Kentucky and they got the job done. But I’m going the other way this weekend, taking the points with an underrated Idaho team that managed to win 8 games last year. With this offense led by Enderle, the Vandals are never out of any ball game. That’s why I believe they will score enough points to stay within four touchdowns.
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