Nebraska at Purdue Prediction, Game Preview
by Pete Fiutak, CollegeFootballNews.com
Purdue is having a rough time.
It got obliterated by Notre Dame, pounded on by Oregon State, and it's going to be tough finding a win the rest of the way -- the team will almost certainly be the underdog in their last nine games.
Purdue has to figure out how to jump all over Nebraska right away.
This is the first road game of the season for the Huskers, but they have to get over yet another close loss -- this time to Illinois -- that's slowed the roll of the jacked up Nebraska fans.
Nebraska (3-1, 0-1) at Purdue (1-2, 0-0)
Saturday, September 28 - 12:00 PM (ET) - Peacock
Why Nebraska Will Win
There was a time not all that terribly long ago when Nebraska had the most fearsome rushing attack in all of college football.
The Big Red Machine steamrolled over everything in its path, Husker running backs were superstars, and the brutally methodical way it all worked made the program a superpower among superpowers.
If Nebraska decides to give that a try, it'll look like that this week.
It's hard to keep running when you have a quarterback like Dylan Raiola under center, but the Huskers pounded away 47 times in the opener over UTEP.
It got away from the the ground game, only ran for 48 yards against Illinois in last week's loss, and ......
......Purdue has allowed 703 rushing yards over the last two weeks to Notre Dame and Oregon State. Give #15 the day off by letting him hand off.
Why Purdue Will Win
For all of the issues and concerns with the Boilermakers, the plays in the backfield are there.
They have a decent pass rush, and they come up with tackles for loss -- they just can't hold up against the run on a consistent basis. But with the Huskers it's more than that.
It's the first Nebraska road game of the season. As much as they all like to say the past is the past, what did the team do last week?
It dropped a close game.
The first three -- including the win over Colorado -- were breathers. If Purdue can get a little bit of the time of possession back on its side, keep this close, the later it gets that Husker collar will get........
What Will Happen
......there won't be any problems for Nebraska.
It'll run, but it'll come up with a good offensive mix to offset a few Purdue first half scoring drives.
There will be moments when Purdue will have a shot to take over in the second half and make this a game, but will stall.
The Nebraska running game will take over from there.
Prediction
Nebraska 34, Purdue 17
Spread
Nebraska is favored on the road by 10 points. The over/under is set at 47.5 points.
