Illinois and Nebraska face off in a ranked conference matchup on Friday night. Here is how to bet the game on DraftKings Sportsbook.
Illinois (+7.5) vs. Nebraska o/u 43
Nebraska Team Breakdown
The Cornhuskers are off to a great start this season, already picking up a big non-conference win over Colorado. Now they begin Big Ten play in a ranked-on-ranked matchup with Illinois. Their highly-touted young QB Dylan Raiola has lived up to the hype so far, but he is yet to face a great defense.
The most impressive part of Raiola’s game is his efficiency on third downs. When a young quarterback is under pressure to make the right decision and execute a throw to keep a drive alive, you often see mistakes. However, Nebraska is 15th in the nation in third-down success rate. If Raiola can pick up first downs and keep possession of the ball for long stretches, Nebraska will be tough to beat.
Illinois Team Breakdown
Illinois also looked great in their first three games, including a big non-conference win over Kansas. That said, the win over Kansas seems less significant now that Kansas also lost to UNLV. Regardless, Illinois looks much better than last year, mostly due to the play of their QB Luke Altmyer. Altmyer made many mistakes last season but has yet to throw an interception this year. He also has Illinois at 22nd in the country in EPA per pass. However, this will be by far the toughest defense he has faced so far this season.
Illinois vs. Nebraska Pick and Prediction
The Nebraska defense is the real deal and has been the only defense to stop the Colorado passing attack so far this season. They should be able to limit what Illinois wants to do offensively and force some mistakes out of Luke Altmeyer. On the other side, this will be by far the best defense that freshman QB Dylan Raiola has faced so far this season. Raiola has looked really good through his first three career starts but has not faced any real adversity. The Illinois defense should give his some tough looks that he hasn’t seen yet.
Both of these teams have gone under the total in all three of their games so far this season. These two defense-first teams don’t want to move the ball particularly fast. In a game that is so important to both teams, they should both come with pretty conservative game plans and try not to be the team that gives the game away with a silly mistake. Ultimately, Nebraska should win the game, but it could easily be by less than a touchdown, so I am going with the under instead of either spread.
Best Bet: Nebraska-Illinois u43
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