There's been an awful lot of hype around the Nebraska Cornhuskers football team the last couple of weeks. There's been talk about the growth of Dylan Raiola and the improvement at the wide receiver position. And there's even renewed optimism over a defense with a new coordinator. Doesn't the Huskers' win total set at 7.5 by Vegas seem a little low based on all the hype around NU this spring?
When you consider that Matt Rhule's squad went 6-6 in the regular season last year with a true freshman quarterback and a wide receiver corps that offered plenty of questions in 2024, seeing the team possibly improve by one game seems like less of a big jump than it did this winter.
Nebraska football enters 2025 with 7.5 win total as hype builds around Raiola and Rhule
And yet, the Nebraska Cornhuskers are sitting with decent odds to win seven games (+100) even if the Vegas thinks it's more likely they'll win 8 or more games (-122).
Assuming that Matt Rhule's latest iteration of the Huskers make the improvements that most of the fanbase and the coaches expect, it's hard to see the team being anything worse than 6-3 heading into the final portion of the season. It's also hard to see them doing worse than 2-1 in those final three games.
That would put them at 8-4 heading into their bowl game. And while 7-5 is possible, it feels like perhaps Vegas is not giving Nebraska enough credit, considering how many games it should have won last year with an arguably more challenging schedule.
Shoulda, coulda, and woulda don't count for much, but the team was on the cusp of winning at least three more games. Their inability to close out games is still considered a strike against them. That would make sense.
However you want to interpret it, the Nebraska Cornhuskers' win total still set at 7.5 seems low, and something will see some rather high payouts.