MSU football will return under the lights once again on Saturday, hosting Nebraska at home at 8 p.m.
Football reporters Robert Bondy and Geoff Preston predict the outcome of what could be a College Football Playoff-deciding game for the Spartans.
Bondy’s Bets
No. 10 MSU will get a do-over to improve its image this weekend on the national stage against No. 19 Nebraska, and they’ll take full advantage of it.
MSU will continue its trend of coming out hot to take an early lead on the Cornhuskers and will never look back. I don’t see this as a blow-out, but I believe MSU’s defense will make a statement and hold Husker senior running back Ameer Abdullah to below 100 yards. Abdullah finished with only 54 yards in the near McNeese State upset. Coincidence? I think not. Slow down Abdullah and MSU will win hands down.
Nebraska’s defense is no longer known as the dominant “Black Shirts” and I see junior quarterback Connor Cook having another big day. The last three times Cook played on the big stage — Ohio State, Stanford and Oregon — he finished with over 300 passing yards and I foresee a similar performance.
The only concern for this week’s game is rain. Luke Bryan considers rain a good thing (great country song btw) but it won’t be good for MSU’s passing attack. That’s the one thing that can slow down this offense, but I’m leaning toward mother nature giving Sparty a break. MSU-31 Nebraska-20
Preston’s Picks
With the absence of a dominant Ohio State team, Saturday’s test against Nebraska all of a sudden becomes arguably the most important game on the schedule for MSU. The defense of MSU has dominated almost every Big Ten opponent — the almost concerning the Cornhuskers of Lincoln, Neb. Even in last season’s 41-28 win senior running back Ameer Abdullah went for over 120 yards, and in 2012 Nebraska went for over 300 yards on the ground against the MSU defense.
I don’t think Nebraska is going to win this game, but there is history here. Junior defensive end Shilique Calhoun blamed last season’s performance on not being sound in their gap assignments, but I think when he said that Nebraska just flat out has a good ground game, he was right.
Nebraska is a curious program. They’ve been fighting like mad to regain the national championship relevance they had in the 1990’s, and every time they have an important game against a big opponent they don’t come through. Think Texas, UCLA and even MSU last season. All potential program games that Nebraska couldn’t win, and they would end up with their customary 8-4 or 9-3 season as a result.
I think Nebraska is close to kicking the door of national relevance down, but it won’t happen Saturday night. I think MSU’s offense will be the story, and the defense will need a few turnovers like they had last season. MSU-27 Nebraska-20
