Early season struggles scoring and turning the ball over aren’t worry odds makers when it comes to Nebraska football’s game against Northern Illinois.
Nebraska football is favored by more points against NIU this week than the offense averages per game.
That statement is probably a bit eyebrow raising for a Nebraska football fanbase that has watched the Huskers struggle mightily in the first two games of the season. However, that Nebraska is favored by 13.5 by Draft Kings and by 13 by Caesar’s Sportsbook is probably more of a statement on what they think about Northern Illinois.
While the Huskers lost 13-10 to Minnesota in a heart breaker and then hung tough with a revitalized Colorado for a half, the Huskies were beating Boston College to open the season and then losing to FCS team, Southern Illinois, 14-11.
It’s likely that the Huskies’ inability to score against the Salukis that is helping the Nebraska football team be that heavy a favorite. There’s also the fact that this will be the first Husker home game for Matt Rhule and company.
Couple of Sportsbooks have the #Huskers as nearly two-TDs favorite or Northern Illinois pic.twitter.com/PXTz5UFmZU
— Oliver VanDervoort (@itmeolliev) September 10, 2023
Nebraska football is looking to right the ship as heavy favorites
Obviously, things have been fraught for Rhule since the season started. Fans are quite nervous on social media about the way things have gone.
However, home cooking can fix a lot of things. It’s possible the first game in Memorial Stadium could be a way for the Nebraska football team to hit the reset button.
At least for now, it appears that Vegas believes the Cornhuskers can indeed get that reset.
The most interesting part of the rather large spread is that it’s not clear if Jeff Sims will be playing next Saturday evening. Nebraska football’s starting quarterback, who has been a turnover machine so far, suffered a high ankle sprain.
Considering just how many times Sims has turned the ball over (7 times in two games) it’s possible that Heinrich Haarberg being the starter, has actually made the line larger for the Nebraska football program.