Western Kentucky at Nebraska
Written by Jack Jones - Google +
The Western Kentucky Hilltoppers visit the Nebraska Cornhuskers Saturday for the season opener for both teams. The Hilltoppers went winless last season at 0-12, but did make improvements as the season wore one by losing each of their final three games by six points or less. Nebraska went 10-4 last year, nearly upsetting the Texas Longhorns in the Big 12 Championship Game as they fell just one second short.
Taking a look at the odds on this game, I find Nebraska -37.5 over Western Kentucky with a total set of 51.5 points. As you would expect, the Cornhuskers are huge favorites and for good reason. They are moving to the Big Ten next year, but would like to leave one final lasting impression on the Big 12 by winning a conference title, and perhaps a national championship.
At No. 8 in the country, the Huskers have their highest ranking since 2003 and are heavy favorites to win the Big 12 North. Nebraska owns five national championships in their history with their last one coming in 1997. Coach Bo Pelini has this team back on the map, but he doesn’t want the preseason hype to get to his players heads.
One thing Pelini has yet to announce is a starting quarterback, but all signs point to Zac Lee who threw for 2,143 yards and 14 touchdowns to 10 interceptions a year ago. He only completed 59% of his passes and is coming off elbow surgery, so sophomore Cody Green and redshirt freshman Taylor Martinez have been given a chance to take the job throughout the spring and into the fall.
Roy Helu Jr. figures to be one of the best backs in the conference provided he can stay healthy. He rushed for 1,147 yards and 10 touchdowns last year despite battling through a shoulder injury. On the outside, the Huskers are led by receiver Niles Paul who is the leading returnee at this position with 796 yards a year ago. If Nebraska is going to take the next step, they will certainly have to improve on the 323 totals yards they put up a year ago offensively which ranked 99th in the country.
Though Nebraska loses the No. 2 overall pick in the 2010 NFL Draft in Ndamukong Suh, they expect their defense to be as good or better than it was a year ago. Seven defensive starters return, led by junior tackle Jared Crick who registered 9.5 sacks a year ago. Senior cornerback Prince Amukamaro had 5 interceptions last season and he’s a real playmaker in the secondary.
Western Kentucky will be trying to end their 20-game losing streak when they travel to Lincoln. Their last victory came in 2008 in a 50-9 beat down of Murray State, but they’ve been outscored by more than a 2-to-1 margin since. The Hilltoppers are 1-26 against FBS opponents and are winless in six tries against ranked teams since 2004. Their new head coach is a former standout QB for WKU in Willie Taggart, and fans are excited to have him guiding the ship as they look to turn this thing around.
Jack’s Free Prediction: Western Kentucky +37.5 – Certainly it’s disturbing to know that this team has lost 20 straight games. But given the fact that they return nine offensive and seven defensive starters from a team that lost their last three games by a combined 13 points a year ago, I am fairly confident WKU will get a few wins this season. Sure, no way I expect them to hang with Nebraska or even come close to pulling off this upset. But staying within 5 touchdowns is very reasonable.
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