A busy weekend of college football caps off on Saturday night with a huge Big Ten showdown as No. 5 Ohio State hits the road to take on Nebraska. The Buckeyes will be looking to keep their national championship hopes alive while Scott Frost will look for a huge win in the Cornhuskers home conference opener.
Ohio State traveled to Nebraska in 2017 and trounced the Cornhuskers 56-14. Ohio State enters this game having won four straight against Nebraska.
Last season’s meeting nearly went the other way, however. Nebraska was 2-6 last season when it made the trip to Ohio Stadium and found itself with a 21-16 lead at halftime. The Buckeyes rallied from behind in the second half, but the Huskers twice cut Ohio State’s lead to less than a touchdown twice, but were never able to climb back on top, ultimately losing 36-31.
Storylines
Ohio State: We’re not yet to October, but it would be hard to argue there’s been a Big Ten team this season that has looked better than Ohio State. Wisconsin certainly has a case to make, but the Buckeyes have been dominant through four games, winning each by a average of 44.5 points per game. New quarterback Justin Fields has looked fantastic, and he’s both thrown and rushed for a touchdown in each of Ohio State’s first four games. Running back J.K. Dobbins is No. 5 in the country with 477 rushing yards. Combine those two on offense with a defense that’s hardly yielding anything, and this is a very difficult Ohio State team to beat right now.
Nebraska: Nebraska comes into this game off an odd performance against Illinois. On the one hand, Nebraska put 42 points on the board and had 673 yards of offense. On the other hand, the offense turned the ball over four times and let Illinois rush for 221 yards against it. This is a team that has shown that when it’s playing well, it’s difficult to handle. But when it’s not playing well, it looks very beatable. That kind of uneven performance won’t fly against an elite team like the Buckeyes.
Viewing information
Date: Saturday, September 28 | Time: 7: 30 p.m. ET
Location: Memorial Stadium — Lincoln, Nebraska
TV: ABC | Live stream: WatchESPN.com
Game prediction, picks
My major concern here is Nebraska’s defense. The Cornhuskers are allowing 25.3 points per game on the season, but in two games against Power Five competition (Colorado and Illinois), they’ve allowed 72 points. That doesn’t bode well for this matchup against an Ohio State offense coming off a 76-point performance. Also, while the Nebraska offense has proven to be potent, it hasn’t faced a defense near the caliber of Ohio State’s yet. So I’m not confident that the Cornhuskers will be able to hang over 60 minutes here. I’d lay the points with the Buckeyes. Pick: Ohio State (-17.5)
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