Nebraska Football: Huskers are early dogs to open the 2023 season

When it comes to Nebraska football and new head coach Matt Rhule, it’s safe to say that Husker fans are hoping that the new regime gets off on the right foot. However, if some very early odds are any indication, then the Minnesota Golden Gophers are going to be a bit of a bump in the road to the beginning of the Rhule-build.

Despite the calendar not even turning to March yet, some odds for a couple of games next fall have started circulating. Earlier this week, the early odds for the Nebraska football team’s tilt against the Colorado Buffaloes were released. The Huskers are almost a touchdown favorite in that particular game. However, it not appears that FanDuel doesn’t believe the Cornhuskers will be able to topple their conference rivals in their 2023 season opener.

The Huskers will open the season against Minnesota in the Gophers home stadium. It appears that the oddsmakers believe it will take a bit of time for Rhule and company to hit their stride. The fact that Nebraska football is eight-point underdogs to the Golden Gophers should raise some eyebrows. That feels like a pretty large spread for a season opener between division rivals.

Playing into that spread has to be the Huskers’ lack of success of late against P.J. Fleck. Fleck has had his guys rowing the boat against Nebraska to four straight wins.

Since joining the Big Ten, Nebraska football is just 5-7 against Minnesota and things look even worse if you take out the first two years in the league when the Huskers won by 27 and 24 points, respectively.

When you take into consideration that the Cornhuskers have beaten the Gophers just three times in the last decade, it’s not a big shock that they’re not expected to win their first game under a new head coach, on the road against a team that won 9 games a year ago.

It will just be up to the Nebraska football team to prove early on that the oddsmakers don’t have Matt Rhule’s squad pegged.