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The Northwestern Wildcats and Nebraska Cornhuskers kick off their seasons in Dublin, Ireland, on Saturday. These Big Ten teams will be looking to start the campaign on a positive note after both finished at 3-9 in 2021.
No team has the home-field advantage this week with the game being played overseas. The matchup will be the first regular-season international NCAAF game since California and Hawaii played a game in Australia back in 2016.
Nebraska is listed as sizeable favorites, despite the fact that they've had to replace a lot of players from last year. Last season, their only conference win came against Northwestern in a 56-7 rout. After that week, though, the Cornhuskers closed out their season with six straight defeats, with all but one being one-possession games. This year, Nebraska's win total is set at 7.5 by Vegas, indicating that we should be in store for a much better brand of football.
Nebraska will have Casey Thompson as their starting quarterback this year, a transfer from Texas. Thompson threw 24 touchdowns and just nine interceptions last year, and he should help an offense that struggled at times last season.
The Wildcats also won just one conference game in 2021, beating Rutgers before going on to lose their final six. Northwestern averaged a lousy 16.6 points per game, ranking 125th of 130 in the nation. They're not expected to be much better this year, but they'll hope that whoever is under center can make a big difference.
Junior Ryan Hillinski started five contests last year, but it's possible that Brendan Sullivan will get the start at QB. Either way, Nebraska's defense shouldn't have to worry about these quarterbacks being run threats. The Wildcats will probably look to do more in their run game anyway, as they'll feature junior running back Evan Hull, who surpassed 1000 yards on the ground in 2021.
As important as the run will be for Northwestern, they should be more concerned about stopping the run. They allowed 213.9 yards per game on the ground last season, ranking them last in the Big Ten in this category.
Expect both teams to be hungry for this conference clash on Saturday, and look for the run game to be a key factor today on both sides.
"24 Hours Out. #GBR" - Nebraska Football
Northwestern Wildcats vs. Nebraska Cornhuskers Match Details
Fixture: Northwestern Wildcats vs. Nebraska Cornhuskers
Date & Time: Saturday, August 27, 12:30 p.m. EDT
Venue: Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Ireland
Northwestern Wildcats vs. Nebraska Cornhuskers Betting Odds
Northwestern Wildcats vs. Nebraska Cornhuskers Betting Prediction
Nebraska is tabbed as the favorites for this matchup, but coach Cornhusker Scott Frost has covered just eight of his 23 games as head coach here. Despite Northwestern being blown out in this matchup last year, this is a fresh start with new players being brought in and out. Expect the Wildcats to cover and expect them to score a decent amount in Ireland.
Prediction: Northwestern Wildcats +11 & Northwestern Wildcats Team Total Over 20.5 Points (+100)
