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December 01,2012
Nebraska Cornhuskers vs. Wisconsin Badgers
The Big Ten Championship Saturday night pits the champions of the Legends Division, the Nebraska Cornhuskers (10-2, 6-5-1 ATS ) against the third place team in the Leaders Division, the Wisconsin Badgers (7-5, 5-7 ATS) at Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis, IN. You read that correctly, the third place Badgers out of the Leaders Division are in this game at 7-5 because the top two teams in that division, Ohio State and Penn State, are both ineligible for post-season play. You can catch all the action on FOX, with kick-off scheduled for 8:17 ET.
Nebraska enters this contest riding a six-game winning streak, and its two losses this year came at UCLA early on, a loss that does not look bad at all right now, and at Ohio State, a team that finished 12-0 this year. The Cornhuskers beat everyone else mostly because of a potent running game that ranked eighth in the country with 252.2 yards per game, and as if things weren't bleak enough for Wisconsin, Nebraska welcomed back running back Rex Burkhead in the season finale vs. Iowa after he had missed four games with a knee sprain. The Huskers did have a bit more balance this year compared to past seasons though as quarterback Taylor Martinez improved his passing immeasurably over last season, passing for 2483 yards while completing 63.3 percent of his passes with 21 touchdown throws against only eight interceptions. He also added 833 rushing yards on 5.3 yards per carry with eight rushing touchdowns. Now the Huskers did rank only 75th nationally in rushing defense, but that figure is a bit skewed because of allowing 371 rushing yards at Ohio State. That continued the struggles Nebraska has had vs. spread offenses, but lucky it is going up against a pro set here.
Wisconsin meanwhile stumbled down the stretch losing three of its last four games, although it bears mentioning that all three losses were in overtime. That does not change the fact that, unlike the Cornhuskers, the Badgers have absolutely no momentum right now. What Wisconsin does have is a one-dimensional rushing offense with the team now on its third starting quarterback this year in Curt Phillips. Yes, that rushing attack is led by last year's Heisman Trophy finalist Montee Ball, who had another fine season with 1525 rushing yards on 4.9 yards per carry with 18 touchdowns. However, Nebraska could put all of its efforts into trying to stop him, as Phillips completed only 52.6 percent of his passes and has yet to reach 200 passing yards in a game. Also note that while Nebraska beat just about all the teams that it was supposed to beat this year and most of them handily, Wisconsin lost at home to a 6-6 Michigan State team and it had much closer games than expected vs. the likes of UTEP and especially Utah State, against whom the Badgers had to rally to beat 16-14 at home.
These teams met in the regular season way back on September 29th, and although Nebraska won by only a 30-27 score, it piled up 440 total yards of offense including 259 rushing yards while holding the Badgers to 295 total yards. Wisconsin ended the regular season with a non-covering loss at Penn State, and the Badgers are on a 2-5 ATS run following an ATS loss.
Pick: OVER 49
December 01,2012
Nebraska Cornhuskers vs. Wisconsin Badgers
The Big Ten Championship Saturday night pits the champions of the Legends Division, the Nebraska Cornhuskers (10-2, 6-5-1 ATS ) against the third place team in the Leaders Division, the Wisconsin Badgers (7-5, 5-7 ATS) at Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis, IN. You read that correctly, the third place Badgers out of the Leaders Division are in this game at 7-5 because the top two teams in that division, Ohio State and Penn State, are both ineligible for post-season play. You can catch all the action on FOX, with kick-off scheduled for 8:17 ET.
Nebraska enters this contest riding a six-game winning streak, and its two losses this year came at UCLA early on, a loss that does not look bad at all right now, and at Ohio State, a team that finished 12-0 this year. The Cornhuskers beat everyone else mostly because of a potent running game that ranked eighth in the country with 252.2 yards per game, and as if things weren't bleak enough for Wisconsin, Nebraska welcomed back running back Rex Burkhead in the season finale vs. Iowa after he had missed four games with a knee sprain. The Huskers did have a bit more balance this year compared to past seasons though as quarterback Taylor Martinez improved his passing immeasurably over last season, passing for 2483 yards while completing 63.3 percent of his passes with 21 touchdown throws against only eight interceptions. He also added 833 rushing yards on 5.3 yards per carry with eight rushing touchdowns. Now the Huskers did rank only 75th nationally in rushing defense, but that figure is a bit skewed because of allowing 371 rushing yards at Ohio State. That continued the struggles Nebraska has had vs. spread offenses, but lucky it is going up against a pro set here.
Wisconsin meanwhile stumbled down the stretch losing three of its last four games, although it bears mentioning that all three losses were in overtime. That does not change the fact that, unlike the Cornhuskers, the Badgers have absolutely no momentum right now. What Wisconsin does have is a one-dimensional rushing offense with the team now on its third starting quarterback this year in Curt Phillips. Yes, that rushing attack is led by last year's Heisman Trophy finalist Montee Ball, who had another fine season with 1525 rushing yards on 4.9 yards per carry with 18 touchdowns. However, Nebraska could put all of its efforts into trying to stop him, as Phillips completed only 52.6 percent of his passes and has yet to reach 200 passing yards in a game. Also note that while Nebraska beat just about all the teams that it was supposed to beat this year and most of them handily, Wisconsin lost at home to a 6-6 Michigan State team and it had much closer games than expected vs. the likes of UTEP and especially Utah State, against whom the Badgers had to rally to beat 16-14 at home.
These teams met in the regular season way back on September 29th, and although Nebraska won by only a 30-27 score, it piled up 440 total yards of offense including 259 rushing yards while holding the Badgers to 295 total yards. Wisconsin ended the regular season with a non-covering loss at Penn State, and the Badgers are on a 2-5 ATS run following an ATS loss.
Pick: OVER 49
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