Mid-major fun ends Saturday evening and here’s all the info you need to enjoy your afternoon where hopefully the most stressful moment is who gets the start at QB

THE BETTING BASICS

Current Line: Nebraska -20 ¹⁄₂
Moneyline: Nebraska -1350/Louisiana Tech +800
Over/Under: 47 ¹⁄₂ (-112 O/-108 U)
ESPN Analytics Matchup Predictor: Huskers 84%/La Tech 24.2%

Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.

HOW SHOULD YOU SPEND YOUR MONEY

Louisiana Tech comes rolling into Lincoln with a 2-2 record averaging 31ppg but also a defense giving up 29ppg and almost 400ypg. Some folks may look at Tech HC Sonny Cumbie’s Air Raid background and be tempted by the over, but it’s important to note that: 1) the Bulldogs have already been held to 22 and 17 points by defenses inferior to the Huskers and 2) although SMU’s is a pretty porous defense, much of the over/under as well as the line could hinge on who gets the QB nod for the Huskers.

The possibility of Sims getting the start and continuing to underperform while the coaches stick with him should be enough to make everyone run away from an already far too slight risk/low reward moneyline.

But once again, let’s hear from Mark, who knows much, much more about gambling than I do. And congrats to anyone who loaded up on last week’s rec. Here we go:

“I don’t like any of it. Hard to imagine we can cover -21 with a now questionable run game. Maybe take the under if you’re a sicko degenerate. (Such as myself)”

GAME THOUGHTS

For older fans, Louisiana Tech brings back some shaky memories of the 1998 where Husker fans were alerted early on the Frank Solich Era would not be a continuation of the Osborne’s (see below). This year, a little of that fear may creep back especially with an Air Raid pedigree in HC Sonny Cumbie who cultivated his coaching chops on the offensive side of the ball at Texas Tech and TCU leading the charge.

But while you will see the ball in the air plenty, they run a surprisingly balanced attack which is slightly ground heavy and spreads the carries equally among three backs. In the passing game, 5th year senior Hank Bachmeier, a Boise State transfer, will be looking to his favorite target, Smoke Harris, who has 288 rec yards and 3 TD’s.

As mentioned above though, that offense has been stifled twice already, once by SMU, and owns a defense which has given up yards and points thus far. This one shouldn’t provide too much stress and should give sufficient snaps to both Sims and Haarberg to make their case before Michigan.

(Sweet Jeebus, did I just jinx us?)

GAME DAY INFO

Date/Time: Saturday, September 23, 2023 at 2:30pm CDT

Location: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln NE

Surface: Field Turf (Crafted by The Bobfather himself in Husker Valhalla)

Opposition Blog: Check out Louisiana Tech news at Underdog Dynasty, SBNation’s site covering American, Conference USA, Sun Belt, and Independent football.

Series Record: Nebraska leads the all-time series 2-0. But 1998, ugh.

TV: The game will be televised on B1G Network with Play-by-Play: Mark Followill; Analyst: Matt Millen; Sideline: Meghan McKeown. It can be streamed on the Fox Sports app with a login from your service provider.

Radio: Huskers Radio Network. The audio can also be streamed live for free at Huskers.com The crew will be: Greg Sharpe, Damon Benning, and Jessica Coody. The pre- and post-game shows will be handled by Matt Coatney, Jessica Coody & Ben McLaughlin.

More streaming options: The official Huskers app is available on iTunes and Google Play. You can access the Spanish broadcast on Huskers.com the Huskers app with Kike Morales, Oscar Monterroso & Hannah Bassham.

Weather: On Saturday, the temperature in Lincoln is expected to be around 77 degrees around kickoff with a 40% chance of thunderstorms with both remaining so through game’s end. (Check for updates as kickoff draws closer.)

Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.

TRIVIA

For this weeks trivia, more PTSD from the past. In 1998, Louisiana Tech was Frank Solich’s opponent in his debut as Ozzy’s hand-picked successor and, holy shit, was that decision in question right out of the gate.

If you didn’t watch it, the 56-27 score itself wasn’t harrowing in and of itself - I mean, the backups could’ve fallen apart, right.

Well, sure, except wasn’t entirely the case. Nebraska did take 35-6 lead into halftime but the second half was such a disaster, it couldn’t be easily explained away.

Before the Melvin Gordon NCAA record 400-yard rushing game, there was the Troy Edwards NCAA 405 yards receiving game on 21 grabs. Not exactly a fond Blackshirts moment.

Tech QB Tim Rattay shredded the Huskers with a 46-68 for 590 yards with 4 TD’s, 3 of them to Edwards for 52, 94 and 80 yards. Yes, the Huskers win was never in doubt, but it’s still tough to explain away winning by 29 while being outgained 569-462. It was a bit of a harbinger of doom much like Bill Callahan’s debut against Western Illinois where they stormed to a 42-3 halftime lead the bumbled about much of the second half with starter Joe Dailey playing most of the game.

We shouldn’t have such worries tomorrow, but don’t you just love memories such as these?

Nebraska Cornhuskers