COLORADO vs NEBRASKA
When: 3:30 PM ET, Saturday, September 8, 2018
Where: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska

TV: 3:30 PM
LINE:
PREDICTION: NEBRASKA , COLORADO

Oddsmakers currently have the NEBRASKA listed as point favorites versus the COLORADO, while the game’s total is sitting at .

For a 15-year stretch from 1996 to 2010, Nebraska ended its regular season on Black Friday with a rivalry game against Colorado sparked by the schools’ dominance of their conference. This season, the Cornhuskers will get a second chance to begin the Scott Frost era on the right foot when they host the Buffaloes on Saturday in a battle pitting two former rivals hoping to return to their former glory, albeit in different conferences.

Nebraska and Colorado combined to win the final eight Big Eight championships before the conference expanded and became the Big 12 in 1996, and the schools met regularly on Thanksgiving weekend every year thereafter until the Cornhuskers left for the Big Ten and Colorado fled to the Pac 12 in 2011. The Cornhuskers are coming off their worst season since 1961 and have suffered two losing campaigns in three years after finishing 49 of the previous 53 seasons with at least nine wins, while the Buffaloes have enjoyed only one winning campaign since 2005. Mother Nature delayed Frost’s reclamation project one week, as a lightning strike and a severe thunderstorm shortly after kickoff in Nebraska’s season opener against Akron led to a long delay and ultimately a cancellation. Meanwhile, the Buffaloes began their season in dominant fashion last weekend, piling up 596 total yards in a 45-13 rout of Colorado State.

TV: 3:30 p.m. ET, ABC. LINE: Nebraska -4.5.

ABOUT COLORADO (1-0): Junior Steven Montez, who completed 22-of-25 passes for 338 yards and four TDs against the Rams and tied a program record by completing his first 12 passes and set another with his 246.4 passer rating (for 20-plus and 25-plus attempts in a game), is the ninth quarterback in school history to exceed 4,000 passing yards in his career. Laviska Shenault Jr. posted the fourth-highest, single-game receiving yardage total in school history (211), while Virginia Tech graduate transfer Travon McMillian became only the eighth Colorado player to run for at least 100 yards in his debut (103). Sophomore linebacker Nate Landman finished with 16 tackles and an interception against the Rams, setting a school mark for the most tackles by a Buffalo in his first career start.

ABOUT NEBRASKA (2017: 4-8): Adrian Martinez will become the first true freshman quarterback to open the season as the starter in school history, and he should have no shortage of weapons at his disposal as senior Stanley Morgan Jr. (986) and sophomore JD Spielman (830) ranked second and fifth, respectively, in the Big Ten in receiving yards last year. Greg Bell is expected to get the first shot at being the next in a long line of great running backs for the Cornhuskers after rushing for at least 1,187 yards in each of his two seasons at Arizona Western. Nebraska struggled mightily on defense in 2017, surrendering nearly twice as many rushing yards as the offense gained (2,577-1,290) and recording a Big-Ten low 14 sacks.

EXTRA POINTS

1. The Cornhuskers own a 49-18-2 advantage in the all-time series, including a 26-8 mark in Lincoln.

2. Nebraska gave up at least 54 points in each of its final three games last season.

3. The Buffaloes last weekend featured a 300-yard passer (Montez, 338), a 200-yard receiver (Shenault) and a 100-yard rusher (McMillian) in the same game for the first time in school history.

PREDICTION: Nebraska 41, Colorado 31

The post COLORADO vs. NEBRASKA 9/8/2018 Free Pick & CFB Betting Prediction appeared first on IdealCapper.

AKRON vs NEBRASKA
When: 8:00 PM ET, Saturday, September 1, 2018
Where: Memorial Stadium, Lincoln, Nebraska

TV: 8:00 PM
LINE: -24
PREDICTION: NEBRASKA , AKRON

Oddsmakers currently have the NEBRASKA listed as -24 point favorites versus the AKRON, while the game’s total is sitting at 54.

After watching Scott Frost turn Central Florida from a winless team into an undefeated one in two seasons, Nebraska would like nothing more than to watch its last national championship-winning quarterback spark a similar revival following their worst season since 1961. The Cornhuskers hope their native son can get them pointed back in the right direction starting Saturday when they host Akron.

Frost took over UCF in 2016 following a 0-12 campaign and guided the Knights to a six-win season before they became the darlings of FBS in ’17 by going 13-0, including a 30-27 victory over Auburn in the Peach Bowl. The 43-year-old, who led Nebraska to the last of its five national titles in 1997, assumes control of a program that has suffered losing campaigns in two of the past three years – including a 4-8 mark in 2017 – after finishing 49 of the previous 53 seasons with at least nine wins. Frost wasted little time making his first notable decision last weekend, naming Adrian Martinez as the starting quarterback and making him the first true freshman signal-caller to open the season as the starter in school history. The Zips proved to be more than the sum of their parts in 2017, winning the East Division of the Mid-American Conference despite sporting the 121st-ranked offense and 103rd-ranked defense in FBS by leading the league in turnover margin and winning three of their games by a total of five points.

TV: 8 p.m. ET, FOX. LINE: Nebraska -24.5

ABOUT AKRON (2017: 7-7): Sophomore quarterback Kato Nelson sparked the offense with four touchdown passes in a critical conference victory over Ohio last season and faces the daunting task of trying to improve after losing four of his top five pass-catchers from a season ago. The one returning receiver is senior Kwadarrius Smith, who averaged a MAC-best 21.4 yards per catch and led the team in receiving yards (726) and receiving scores (seven) despite finishing with only 34 receptions. First-team all-conference linebacker Ulysees Gilbert III tallied 140 tackles, five sacks, 9.5 tackles for loss and three interceptions as a junior; he is one of nine returning players back from a defense that led the MAC with 19 interceptions.

ABOUT NEBRASKA (2017: 4-8): Martinez should have no shortage of weapons at his disposal as senior Stanley Morgan Jr. (61 catches for 986 yards and 10 touchdowns) and sophomore JD Spielman (55, 830 and two) ranked second and fifth, respectively, in the Big Ten in receiving yards. Junior college transfer Greg Bell is expected to get the first shot at being the next in a long line of great running backs for the Cornhuskers after averaging over six yards per carry and rushing for at least 1,187 yards in each of his two seasons at Arizona Western. The Cornhuskers struggled mightily on defense in 2017, surrendering nearly twice as many rushing yards as the offense gained on the ground (2,577-1,290) and recording a Big-Ten low 14 sacks.

EXTRA POINTS

1. Nebraska gave up at least 54 points in each of its final three games last season.

2. Akron failed to rush for 180 yards against any FBS team and allowed a FBS-worst 328 first downs last season.

3. The Cornhuskers’ only other matchup against the Zips came in the aforementioned 1997 national championship season. Ironically, Nebraska’s second game that season was against UCF.

PREDICTION: Nebraska 38, Akron 20

The post AKRON vs. NEBRASKA 9/1/2018 Free Pick & CFB Betting Prediction appeared first on IdealCapper.

Illinois Fighting Illini vs Nebraska Cornhuskers
When: 7:30 PM  ET, Sunday, February 26, 2017
Where: Pinnacle Bank Arena, Lincoln, Nebraska

TV: 7:30 p.m. ET, Big Ten Network
LINE: -4
PREDICTION: Nebraska 70, Illinois 67

Oddsmakers currently have the NEBRASKA listed as -4 point favorites versus the ILLINOIS, while the game’s total is sitting at 133.

Illinois has reached the breakeven mark in conference play only once since coach John Groce arrived in 2012-13, and a second such season appeared highly unlikely as recently as three weeks ago when it fell to 3-8 in league play. The Illini have since rebounded with three victories in their last four contests and will continue their pursuit of a .500 record in Big Ten action Sunday when they visit Nebraska.

Following a Feb. 4 defeat to Minnesota for its sixth loss in seven tries, Illinois stunned Northwestern three days later for its first road win of the season before also winning at Iowa on Feb. 18, which came after a disappointing home setback to Penn State exactly one week earlier. The Illini, who host Michigan State on Wednesday prior to closing out their regular-season schedule at league-worst Rutgers next weekend, continued their recent strong play by holding the Wildcats to 18 second-half points in Tuesday’s 66-50 victory to complete a regular-season sweep of their instate rival. The Cornhuskers saw their modest two-game winning streak snapped Thursday at Michigan State, falling into a ninth-place tie with Illinois and Penn State after suffering an 88-72 defeat against the Spartans. Nebraska has dropped nine of 12 overall since a 3-0 start to conference play, but a win would go a long way in helping it secure a first-round bye in the upcoming Big Ten tournament, as the Cornhuskers would hold the tiebreaker edge over the Nittany Lions and Illini.

ABOUT ILLINOIS (16-12, 6-9 Big Ten): The Illini have improved markedly on defense over their last six games, limiting their opponents to 64.2 points on 39.7 percent shooting after allowing their first nine league foes to score 74.8 points per game on 49.2 percent from the field. Malcolm Hill (team-high 17 points per game) who is the only Illinois player to start every game this season, has led the team in scoring 17 times this season and is shooting 51.4 percent from the field over the last three games. The Illini received only two minutes from sophomore guard Jalen Coleman-Lands (8.1) on Tuesday as he suffered an early mild left ankle sprain, but the team’s leading 3-point shooter is expected to return to his normal role Sunday.

ABOUT NEBRASKA (12-15, 6-9): Senior guard Tai Webster (team-high 17.8 points), who is the conference’s third-leading scorer and one of only two power-conference players (Villanova’s Josh Hart) to reach double figures in every game this season, posted his first career double-double Thursday with 19 points and 10 rebounds. Second-leading scorer Glynn Watson Jr. (13.7 points) has an assist-to-turnover ratio of 3.3 over his last eight outings, and the sophomore guard ranks seventh in the Big Ten in 3-point accuracy (45.6 percent) during league play. Sophomore forward Michael Jacobson leads the conference in offensive rebounds in conference action (3.7), helping the Cornhuskers record a plus-5.3 margin on the boards over the last seven contests (minus-2.4 over the team’s first eight league games).

TIP-INS
1. Illinois is seeking its first three-game winning streak in conference play since 2015 and first three-game league road winning streak since 2014.
2. Webster is 20 points shy of becoming only the fourth Cornhusker to amass 500 points and 100 assists in a season, joining Erick Strickland, Jaron Boone and Tyronn Lue.
3. Coleman-Lands’ 143 career 3-pointers leads all sophomores from the six major conferences.

The post Illinois Fighting Illini vs. Nebraska Cornhuskers Odds & Prediction appeared first on IdealCapper.

All that moving around hardly makes him unique, though.

It’s more like the new norm.

More than 700 players on Division I rosters swapped schools last season, many taking advantage of fifth-year transfer rules that allow them to play immediately. The number could swell to more than 800 by the time this season begins next week. And that has coaches and administrators at every level concerned about the long-term effect on the health and popularity of the sport.

”I do think it’s a big-time problem in college basketball. It’s a problem in college athletics,” said Kansas coach Bill Self, who has three transfers from four-year schools on his current roster. ”But I also think it’s a societal problem because how many kids now, if you don’t play on your high school team, what’s the first thing you do? You switch schools. It happens in football and other sports, too.

”I mean, we’d like for it to be tightened up,” Self added, ”where there’s less transfers and hopefully that will be the case. But I don’t know what the answer is for that.”

That’s the biggest problem: Nobody seems to know.

In interviews with more nearly two dozen coaches and officials, including four conference commissioners, the only consensus was that the transfer epidemic is a problem striking college basketball to its core.

”The numbers concern me. But within those numbers, you have to understand there are sometimes very good reasons to transfer that are beyond just playing time,” ACC commissioner John Swofford said. ”Some of it is societal in nature, in which it’s instant-gratification syndrome of, `If I’m not playing immediately and not playing a big role, I’m going somewhere else. That’s indicative of a larger issue beyond basketball.”

Swofford said the days of kids ”waiting their turn” are a quaint construct of yesteryear. Now, everybody wants to get on the floor right away, and they’re willing to uproot if that’s what it takes.

”My concern is more about the academic part of it as much as anything, and how much can you bounce around and truly receive the kind of education that you’d want,” Swofford said. ”But again, it’s hard to lump that all into one bag. There is a lot going on.”

Transfers are more pervasive in college basketball for a number of reasons.

First, the game is largely the same regardless of where you go. Teams run different offenses, coaches utilize different systems and defenses vary from school to school. But it’s not like football, where a player who transfers has to learn hundreds of complicated plays in a condensed time period.

That makes it easy for a player to get up to speed quickly.

Another reason is numbers: There are only five guys on the floor at a time, and only 200 minutes to go around per game. Compare that to football, where an offense will run about 80 plays and there are 11 guys on the field at a time, not to mention opportunities to play on special teams.

”We need coaches to be frank on the front end, what their program is about,” Belmont coach Rick Byrd said, ”and then we need kids when they make their decision to stay there and not hop around looking for the next best thing because they didn’t play 38 minutes a game as a freshman.”

The NCAA is continually examining the issue through its committee on academics, but has so far stood pat. And that is particularly troubling for mid-major coaches like Byrd when it comes to the fifth-year transfer rule, which allows athletes who have graduated to play immediately somewhere else.

That rule has turned some mid-major programs into de-factor minor leagues.

Most coaches are in favor of eliminating the rule, which would mean those players would have to redshirt a year just like any other transfer. Other ideas to curb the number of transfers include a cap on the number of schools where an athlete can play, and rules that limit where an athlete transferring can go.

”I’m heartened by the fact that the NCAA continues to look at transfer issues,” Ohio Valley commissioner Beth DeBauche said, ”because they’re very complex.”

Now, there are cases where transfers are best for everybody involved: coaching changes, players deciding they want to play closer to home, academics and a myriad other issues that can pop up over the years.

Then there are the benefits to playing in different places.

”Making two moves, it’s kind of kept me on my toes,” White said. ”I’ve seen different staffs, different leagues. I’ve experienced a lot of basketball up to this point and it’s helped me with my overall confidence.

”As far as my Kansas experience, got to see a blue-blood, elite-level program. Got to win a couple of rings. Then Nebraska, obviously a sports town, Big Ten is a great basketball league. I got to play a big role and do some big things and learned a lot from that staff. And then you come here and you learn from one of the greatest coaches (at Syracuse),” White said. ”It’s been good for my well-being as a man and as a player.”

Indeed, the Orange may best encapsulate the trend. Jim Boeheim had a handful of transfers in his first 40 years as their coach. He’ll have three in the lineup this year.

”Transfers that we’ve taken have been very impactful to our program,” Boeheim said. ”We haven’t taken that many, but the guys that we have taken are very impactful.”

As for the transfer outlook for college basketball?

”It’s here to stay now,” Boeheim said. ”So if you need a guy you can’t get a freshman to help you, if you can get a guy that has started for two or three years, that would bring something to enhance recruiting.”

—

AP Sports Writers John Kekis, Pete Iacobelli, John Marshall and Aaron Beard and freelance writer Chip Cirillo contributed to this story.

For more AP college basketball: http://collegebasketball.ap.org

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