The Nebraska football team is squaring off against arguably its toughest opponent since it did battle with the Oklahoma Sooners in Week 3 of the season. While the Cornhuskers lost that game 49-14, it was less than one week after head coach Scott Frost was fired and there was almost no one who was really expecting NU to play its best football.
Things are different in Week 9 of the regular season. The Nebraska football team has not only gotten to play several games under interim head coach Mickey Joseph but he’s had two bye weeks to continue installing his system and get the players to play as he believes they should. For that reason, there’s a bit more expectation that this week will see a better performance.
Of course, it can be argued that Illinois is a better team than the Sooners. The Illini started the season with a loss to the Indiana Hoosiers. They haven’t lost since. They are now 17th in the country and look like the odds on favorite to win the Big Ten West.
All of that is quite the turnaround job by head coach Bret Bielema. He’s done a good enough job that some believe he’s a top candidate for the Nebraska football position.
Nebraska football vs. Illinois Odds Week 9
So just how does all of this affect the odds for this battle of B1G West contenders? Turns out there aren’t a whole lot of people who think the Huskers have much of a chance against the Illini.
FanDuel has set Illinois as 7.5-point favorites, while WynnBet has them favored by 8-points. That is a rather large spread, considering the Cornhuskers are at home this weekend.
Oddsmakers don’t see this game being high scoring as both FanDuel and WynnBet have set the total at 50.5
Nebraska football vs. Illinois Prediction Week 9
In reality, both the spread and a lower total make sense. While NU managed to be pretty prolific on offense against Purdue, they’ve struggled in recent weeks, even while beating both Indiana and Rutgers.
Illinois has one of the best defenses in the country and it’s offense seems to be rounding into shape. I think the Illini are on a different level than the Nebraska football team at this point and should come out of Lincoln with a 28-17 type victory.