Nebraska vs Illinois Odds, Lines & Predictions for Friday Night Football

Odds as of October 5, 2023, at DraftKings Sportsbook. Claim the DraftKings promo code to bet on Friday night football.

Cornhuskers Betting Analysis

The Nebraska Cornhuskers have had a rough start to the season with a record of 2-3. In their last game, they lost against the Michigan Wolverines 45-7. Matt Rhule’s team struggled to get anything going offensively, finishing 3/10 on first downs.

Nebraska’s strengths lie in their rushing attack, which has been effective this season, averaging around 200 rushing yards per game. They have struggled in the passing game, however, with Heinrich Haarberg under center. The sophomore has thrown for 477 yards and four TDs with one interception.

Defensively, the Cornhuskers are allowing 23.8 points per game through five games. They have a strong run defense, allowing under 100 yards on the ground, but they are giving up an average of 239 yards per contest through the air.

Illini Betting Analysis

Illinois Fighting Illini have also had a challenging start to their season with a record of 2-3. In their most recent contest, they lost to the Purdue Boilermakers by a 44-19 score. Purdue did most of their damage on the ground, rushing for 189 yards in the victory.

Illinois’ offense is led by quarterback Artur Sitkowski, who has thrown for 1,200 yards and 6 touchdowns this season. Running back Reggie Love III has been a key player with 250 rushing yards, while Wide receiver Donny Navarro has been a reliable target for Sitkowski with 300 receiving yards and two TDs.

Illinois’ strength is typically been their defense, but it hasn’t been able to bail them out this year. The Illini are allowing 30.5 points per game and 4.7 yards per carry. This is a stark contrast to last season where they gave up only 13 points and 3.3 yards per carry.

Nebraska vs Illinois Prediction

Nebraska’s run game is key and gives the team some solid underdog value for Friday night college football. The Cornhuskers started the season 0-2 in road games, mainly due to turnovers, but they’ve had good rushing stats, running for over 400 yards combined in those losses.

Last season, Illinois outperformed Nebraska, winning easily 26-9, but Nebraska had four turnovers which skewed the game. As long as the Cornhuskers can take care of the football, they’ll have a great chance of pulling off the upset as they face the worst rush defense in the Big Ten.

Illinois is a miserable 0-5 against the spread this season, and they’re still being overrated due to their strong performance last season. This isn’t the same team from one year ago, and we don’t expect their defense to hold up against this dominant Cornhuskers’ ground game.