Ohio State opens up 5 point favorite. Who ya got?

The spread just came out and Ohio State is favored by 5. Who ya got and why?

  • Ohio State (-5)

    Votes: 44 36.7%

  • Nebraska (+5)

    Votes: 76 63.3%
  • Total voters
    120
Homer pick: Nebraska has more offensive weapons and out-performs the one man show of Braxton Miller. 34-24 NU.

Pessimist pick: both offense and defense melt down as Miller puts up 400+ total yards. 41-13 OSU. We bumble our way through a bye week wherein everyone wants Bo fired before getting woodshed'd again at Northwestern. :facepalm:

 
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I thought before this 5 game stretch that Wisconsin would be the easiest game (and that we would win that one in a close game) and that OSU would be the hardest game. I think OSU has the advantage in coaching, an advantage in talent, is at home, and is a bad match-up for us. The bad match up is this: their strength is a mobile and explosive QB --- and our weakness is defending such QB's. Their strength is their rush defense... which matches against our strength... our running game... they could very well neutralize our offense and force us to pass. Then... there are the mistakes, turnovers... that too favors OSU...

I wish I could predict otherwise, but I am thinking OSU 34 NU 17.

 
jgmdub said:
I dont see Ohio State being as good as a lot of you think they are. We stop Miller we win, we bang him up we win hell if we dont turn the ball over we win. Our offense is better then theirs and our Ds are about the same
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jgmdub said:
I dont see Ohio State being as good as a lot of you think they are. We stop Miller we win, we bang him up we win hell if we dont turn the ball over we win. Our offense is better then theirs and our Ds are about the same
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Their defense is better. And stopping Miller is easier said than done. And... we almost always turn the ball over. There are a great many "ifs" in your post --- and it is unlikely that any of the "ifs" go our way. So... OSU to win.

OSU has more talent than anyone in our conference... it is just a matter of time for that talent to gel...

I wish it were not so. But...

 
Brian's opinion gels with mine....I believe NEB has the best offense in the BIG10 as of right now. It needs to keep up the offensive momentum with a side of LIMITING TURNOVERS! Check out the quote and article below:

"At 4-1 this season with the league's top offense and best rushing attack, Nebraska has an excellent chance of winning the Big Ten"(Brian Bennet, ESPN Website).

http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/60656/road-will-be-nebraskas-proving-groung

Ohio St. game will be a good one and NO....Ohio St. will not completely stop NEB's rushing attack. This game may come down to Maher's leg.

 
Chaddyboxer said:
Brian's opinion gels with mine....I believe NEB has the best offense in the BIG10 as of right now. It needs to keep up the offensive momentum with a side of LIMITING TURNOVERS! Check out the quote and article below:

"At 4-1 this season with the league's top offense and best rushing attack, Nebraska has an excellent chance of winning the Big Ten"(Brian Bennet, ESPN Website).

http://espn.go.com/b...-proving-groung

Ohio St. game will be a good one and NO....Ohio St. will not completely stop NEB's rushing attack. This game may come down to Maher's leg.
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exatcly!

 
This game scares the crap out of me but there are a few thoughts that keep creeping into my head.

Our big issues: We put the ball on the ground a lot and struggle with mobile QBs. Night game in a legit hostile environment. They are still slightly miffed about last year.

Their big issues: Starting tailback is out. #2 tailback is dinged up and may not play. Miller is already having to leave games after taking a lot of punishment early in the year and may not be 100%. New offense with young QB and the receivers(inexperienced) have not helped him much. Defense tackles like we did at UCLA. Youth at LB has been outweighing athleticism.

I think Bo has shown this year that he will put DBs on an island until you can beat them through the air. Ohio has not shown they can do that. I expect them to run a playbook similar to what we saw from UCLA. Whaley and Fischer sit most of the game while Nebraska loads the box. Nebraska tackles well in space and Huskers win 31-21 with giving up a short field to the defense only once.

 
There's only so many ways to say it, but Nebraska is either #1 or #2 in pretty much every advanced stat in the B1G, whether it be YPP, AYPP, FEI, S&P, Sagarin, Sagarin predictor... the problem with some of these is that they don't account for turnovers (huge negative for Nebraska) or special teams (pretty big positive for Nebraska). We're good, we're damn good...we just make dumb mistakes. And the dead "dumb mistakes" horse has been beaten to death long ago.

 
zeWilbur said:
This game scares the crap out of me but there are a few thoughts that keep creeping into my head.

Our big issues: We put the ball on the ground a lot and struggle with mobile QBs. Night game in a legit hostile environment. They are still slightly miffed about last year.

Their big issues: Starting tailback is out. #2 tailback is dinged up and may not play. Miller is already having to leave games after taking a lot of punishment early in the year and may not be 100%. New offense with young QB and the receivers(inexperienced) have not helped him much. Defense tackles like we did at UCLA. Youth at LB has been outweighing athleticism.

I think Bo has shown this year that he will put DBs on an island until you can beat them through the air. Ohio has not shown they can do that. I expect them to run a playbook similar to what we saw from UCLA. Whaley and Fischer sit most of the game while Nebraska loads the box. Nebraska tackles well in space and Huskers win 31-21 with giving up a short field to the defense only once.
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This. I saw a LOT of McBride'esq defense against Wisconsin. Put a man on a man, and send the rest. Bottle'em up and hit the qb, over and over. I hope we see more of it, because I always liked that philosphy.

 
accountability said:
zeWilbur said:
This game scares the crap out of me but there are a few thoughts that keep creeping into my head.

Our big issues: We put the ball on the ground a lot and struggle with mobile QBs. Night game in a legit hostile environment. They are still slightly miffed about last year.

Their big issues: Starting tailback is out. #2 tailback is dinged up and may not play. Miller is already having to leave games after taking a lot of punishment early in the year and may not be 100%. New offense with young QB and the receivers(inexperienced) have not helped him much. Defense tackles like we did at UCLA. Youth at LB has been outweighing athleticism.

I think Bo has shown this year that he will put DBs on an island until you can beat them through the air. Ohio has not shown they can do that. I expect them to run a playbook similar to what we saw from UCLA. Whaley and Fischer sit most of the game while Nebraska loads the box. Nebraska tackles well in space and Huskers win 31-21 with giving up a short field to the defense only once.
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This. I saw a LOT of McBride'esq defense against Wisconsin. Put a man on a man, and send the rest. Bottle'em up and hit the qb, over and over. I hope we see more of it, because I always liked that philosphy.
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I have this feeling and I've been hearing rumblings that NEB will be blitzing more against Ohio St to try and rattle ole Braxton Miller. I hope so. I am not a huge fan of trying to contain him and making him throw...this gives him all day and then when a lane opens up, he takes off. Blitz him and blitz him more, make him throw the ball under pressure and keep hitting him. Get this guy rattled.

 
HuskerExpat said:
Not commenting on my own opinion, but the sports betting market has bet this game down to OSU -3. That means the market believes that Nebraska is a better team on a neutral field, since most gamblers assume at least a 4 point home field advantage for a major college football team.
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First off I believe we're going to lose this game and I hope I'm wrong like every husker fan. However when the spread moved that fast (it actually opened in some places a point higher than 5 and quickly moved down). And has continued to move down that usually means that bookies are laying their bets off on Vegas in a big way and big money "made" guys are betting on Nebraska to cover. There is usually fire where there is that much smoke so something isn't being said about this game. Perhaps the QB is hurt more than is publicly known. I just hope we win this thing and do more than cover.

 
I said last night to the wife that I expect a loss. It's not negativity, it's just a logical expectation. A win would not totally surprise me and it would be huge. But my expection of a loss stems simply from our past performances in these situations and against these types of quarterbacks. One thing makes my confident however. We're the ones with the experiences quarterback. We're the ones with the staff continuity. Ohio St. is the one implementing new systems. And we're the ones with everything to gain.

Another thing is if we do lose, it's how we lose that'll determine my outlook for the rest of the season.

 
Depends on which NU team shows up to play this week.

If the NU team that played the first half against Wisconsin shows up again this week, we lose.

If the NU team that played the second half against Wisconsin shows up for the whole game against OSU, we win and it's not even close.

 
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I pray that we keep a "spy" on Miller, especially if we're blitzing, and hopefully it's someone with some speed. Scares the hell out of me locking up man on man, sending the farm and letting Miller get loose and run for days

 
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