The Nebraska Cornhuskers (3-3, 1-5 ATS, 2-4 O/U) take on the Purdue Boilermakers (4-2, 3-3 ATS, 4-2 O/U) in a Big Ten battle on Saturday night. The Cornhuskers played great defense in a road win against Rutgers last week. The Boilermakers recorded a convincing 31-29 road win against Maryland in their previous action. Purdue earned a 28-23 road win against Nebraska last season.
The Nebraska Cornhuskers are seeking a third consecutive victory. They were 1-3 after four games including a loss to Northwestern in their conference opener but have rebounded by winning two in a row. They topped Indiana two weeks ago and were three-point favorites in a low-scoring 14-13 win against Rutgers last week to improve to 2-1 in Big Ten play. Nebraska has only covered the spread once which occurred in the home win against Indiana earlier this month.
Casey Thompson is posting big numbers in the air but is prone to mistakes. He has tossed three picks in his last two games. The junior QB has surpassed 300 passing yards twice and has amassed 1497 passing yards along with a 9:6 TD to INT ratio on the season. Anthony Grant will play a big factor in this game. The talented junior RB has rushed for at least 100 yards four times this season and has recorded 647 rushing yards on 4.9 yards per rush. He has a difficult task against a stellar rush defense in this game.
Trey Palmer is one of the better WRs in the Big Ten. The junior WR had 157 receiving yards in the win against Indiana and has collected a total of 544 receiving yards. The Nebraska offense will run a lot more than pass. They have scored at least 28 points in two of their three conference bouts.
Touchdown Cornhuskers ????@HuskerFBNation strikes first in the second half pic.twitter.com/JjVjIYFW9H
— FOX College Football (@CFBONFOX) October 8, 2022
The Cornhuskers' defense has been hit or miss. Last week marked their best performance of the season but it was against a low-scoring Rutgers team. They held them to 348 total yards. The unit was exploited in defeats against Georgia Southern and Oklahoma and ranks 106th against the pass and 111th against the run. Nebraska is scoring an average of 28.5 points, landing them 78th overall. The defense is allowing an average of 29.3 points, positioning them 90th in the FBS.