Husker Corner
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Who has the EDGE in the Huskers v Badgers Rivalry?

By Brent Craig

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If you have been paying attention to social media and news this week the popular topic is whether Wisconsin and Nebraska are rivals? This is the 9th meeting between these two teams (which certainly doesn’t add up to a storied rivalry) but I believe over time, of all the teams in the West Division, the winner of this game will decide the West championship. If this comes to pass, I believe a rivalry will develop quicker than most. The only true rival of the Huskers was the Oklahoma Sooners, and unfortunately, that rivalry has faded into obscurity.

The Nebraska Cornhuskers football team has a tough task in front of them this Saturday, WINNING in Madison. This series is tied at 4 games a piece with Wisconsin winning the first meeting in 1901 by a score of 0-18, and winning the last meeting in the 2012 Big Ten Championship game by an embarrassing score of 31-70. Since Nebraska has entered the Big Ten, the Huskers have faced Wisconsin twice in the regular season, and once in the Championship Game with Wisconsin leading that series 1-2. Unfortunately for Nebraska, the two loses the Huskers faced against Wisconsin were nationally/regionally televised with Wisconsin winning by 31 points in the first meeting and 39 points in the third meeting. The Huskers came from behind to defeat the Badgers in Lincoln during the regular season in 2012 by a score of 30-27.

Freedom Trophy, a mixture of Wisconsin’s Camp Randall Stadium and Nebraska’s Memorial Stadium

The Huskers have struggled under Bo in beating top 25 teams away from home with a record of 1 and 5, but unfortunately those loses were not close with the average win for the opponent coming in at 25 points. These games were nationally and/or regionally televised causing the respect that the Huskers once held throughout the college football nation to dwindle due to the humiliating losses. Which brings us to this game. Vegas opened with the home team favored by 4 and it has gone up since then. Do Vegas odds makers know something that the Kool-Aid Drinkers do not know?

Let’s see who has the EDGE:

Nebraska ranks 17th in total offense, averaging 490.6 yards per game – Wisconsin ranks 1st in total defense, allowing only 251.1 yards per game.

Edge: Wisconsin

Wisconsin ranks 24th in total offense, averaging 478.3 yards per game –Nebraska ranks 24th in total defense, allowing 339.8 yards per game.

Edge: Nebraska

Nebraska ranks 9th in rushing, averaging 280.7 yards per game– Wisconsin ranks 5th in defending the run allowing 94.3 yards per game.

Edge: Wisconsin

Wisconsin ranks 4th in rushing, averaging 325.7 yards per game – Nebraska ranks 20th, in defending the run, allowing 123.8 yards per game.

Edge: Nebraska

Nebraska ranks 83rd in passing with 209.9 yards per game – Wisconsin ranks 3rd in defending the pass, allowing 156.8 yards per game.

Edge: Wisconsin

Wisconsin ranks 115th in passing, averaging 152.7 yards per game – Nebraska moves up from 47th in defending the pass, allowing 216 yards per game.

Edge: Wisconsin

Nebraska ranks 5th in special teams efficiency – Wisconsin ranks 92nd in special teams efficiency.

Edge: Nebraska

Nebraska ranks 70th in turnover margin with -0.11 – Wisconsin ranks 97th in turnover margin with -0.44.

Edge: Nebraska

This game is too close to call on paper. The uncertainty of Ameer Abdullah’s return poses problems for NU. If Ameer does play, will he be at 100%? Visions of last years contest against Minnesota when Taylor Martinez was cleared to play still haunt my memories. Truth be told, Nebraska needs Abdullah to be healthy for this game against this Wisconsin defense. This defense holds high rankings and should be respected, but a beat up Purdue team scored more points on Wisky than they did on Nebraska’s defense. The fact is, Wisconsin hasn’t played any team of merit since their first loss against LSU, and Wisconsin lost to a Northwestern team that the Huskers dominated. Minimize the turnovers, and if Tommy Armstrong can connect on his passes and the Husker running game is successful with or without Abdullah, Bo will be taking home the first ever Freedom Trophy to Nebraska, where it belongs!

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