Nebraska vs. Minnesota Prediction, Pick Against the Spread, and Latest Odds

Nebraska vs. Minnesota Prediction, Pick Against the Spread, and Latest Odds

This will be the first game of the Nebraska-Matt Rhule era and expectations are high after a disappointing few years under Scott Frost. Can the Cornhuskers pull the upset tonight? Let’s break it down.

Nebraska vs. Minnesota Date, Time, Odds and Where to Watch

Date: August 31, 2023

Time: 8:00 pm ET

Where to Watch: FOX

Click here for the latest Nebraska vs. Minnesota odds

Nebraska vs. Minnesota Prediction

Nebraska comes into this season-opening matchup against Minnesota as seven-point underdogs and there are a lot of narratives surrounding each team in this game.

Nebraska has a new head coach in Matt Rhule, and a new starting quarterback in Jeff Sims, who transferred from Georgia Tech. Meanwhile, Minnesota lost their two best players on offense from last season as quarterback, Tanner Morgan, and running back Mohamed Ibrahim both moved on from the program.

This was also a fairly interesting matchup last year as Minnesota went on the road into Nebraska as over two-touchdown favorites and were nearly upset as they trailed at halftime and ended up only winning by a touchdown by a score of 20 to 13. They got the win, but Nebraska covered the 14.5-point spread fairly easily from start to finish.

Fast forward to this season and the Cornhuskers are getting a bit more love than you would expect, probably due to the fact that both Morgan and Ibrahim are gone, bu Minnesota did re-tool a bit through recruiting and the transfer portal. They picked up Western Michigan transfer Sean Tyler, who was one of the best running backs in the MAC last season.

Anyone who knows about PJ Fleck and Minnesota knows that they want to establish the run and dominate on defense and win the field-position game. Its not about running up the score with absurd passing numbers for Fleck, and Sean Tyler is a more than adequate replacement for Ibrahim. He should put up big numbers in this offense with the amount of touches he will be getting. Tyler ran for over 1,000 yards last season at WMU, averaging just under 5 yards per carry. Minnesota should continue to lean heavily on the ground game between this new two-headed monster of Sean Tyler and Bryce Williams.

On the flip side, Nebraska was not a good team at stopping the run last year. Nebraska was ranked 105th out of 131 qualified FBS teams in defensive rushing yards allowed per game as they allowed their opponents to rack up over 190 yards on the ground. They were also ranked 93rd in yards per rush allowed as they gave up 4.5 yards per tote last season.

They will surely have their hands full against a load of a Minnesota offensive line and Sean Tyler who could be an All-American in this system. All in all, I think this is an extremely tough spot for Nebraska. They showed out last year in a home spot against Minnesota and now they have to travel on the road with a new coach and a new starting quarterback.

The only reason this line is so short is because of the possible question mark at the quarterback position that Minnesota has but I think they will lean heavily on their run game to control the clock/tempo against a fairly weak Nebraska D. I also foresee Jeff Sims struggling to complete passes downfield against a solid Minnesota defense.

With that being said, I am rolling with MINNESOTA FULL GAME -6.5 at -115 for 1.5u as my most confident College Football Play of the Day for tonight’s action.

Nebraska vs. Minnesota Pick

PICK: 1.5 units - Minnesota -6.5 (-115) Click here to see which sportsbook has the best odds