We're talking about Friday night lights, and in this case it's not because of high school football. There is action on the college gridiron, too, so there's no need to wait until Saturday to whet your appetite for pigskin. Friday's schedule includes this Big Ten battle between the Nebraska Cornhuskers and Illinois Fighting Illini. Both teams are looking to dig their way o ut of the cellar in the conference's West Division.
Here is my Same Game Parlay for the festivities, which will be televised starting at 8:00 pm ET on FS1. Also be sure to check out our full Nebraska vs Illinois predictions.
Part of the value in a Same Game Parlay, of course, is that all of its components can be correlated if you so choose. That is'the entire'plan here, as'Nebraska'running back Anthony Grant going crazy would obviously work well with an outright win for the Cornhuskers. Let's break down each of the 3 legs.
Nebraska ML (+136)
These are 2 mediocre teams with 2-3 records that are similar in their playing style; there is not a lot that separates them. In fairness to the Fighting Illini, they have played a tough schedule so far. They took a lopsided loss to Purdue last week and also have setbacks at the hands of Penn State and Kansas. The Illini edged out both Florida Atlantic and Toledo at home, but'up to this point they have'been overmatched by Power 5 foes. For the Cornhuskers, the story is similar: they were dismantled by Michigan and Colorado team, played an ugly game with Minnesota, but handled their business against lesser opponents (Northern Illinois and Louisiana Tech). Head coach Matt Rhule's trench-oriented, defensively-focused scheme suits the ‘Huskers well and they are starting to find some identity on offense. I wouldn't be surprised by an outright upset – albeit not a huge one.