A number of games stand out on the week 6 card.
Nebraska (22) -2.5 at Missouri (18) [Thursday 9:00]
Nebraska
has been incredibly dominate defensively, and if not for an unfortunate last
minute loss at Virginia Tech they would be looking at a 4-0 record. Three of their
four opponents this season have been Sun Belt foes at in Lincoln. Nebraska has outscored their opposition a
combined 157-28. Arkansas St.,
whom Nebraska beat 38-9 gave Iowa everything they could handle this past
weekend. Against Missouri,
the game plan will be pound the rock, and control the LOS. I expect Nebraska's' D-line to have a field day against Missouri.
To the contrary Missouri
has looked rather vanilla. They opened the season with a 37-9 victory against Illinois on a neutral
field. This appeared to be a good win, but Illinois has looked terrible the entire
season. The second week of the season at home, Missouri
scored 21 straight to beat a terrible Bowling
Green squad 27-20. In their last game against Nevada, Missouri
really struggled, and they were unable to muster any kind of ground game in a
tough win. With how dominant Nebraska
has looked up front, this is a major concern. Both teams are coming off of a
bye week, so this is a non-factor.
I look for Nebraska to cruise to a
fairly easy 10 point victory.
Navy-13 at Rice [Saturday
3:30]
The Midshipmen are coming off of an overtime victory over
their bitter rival Air Force. Following a tough victory, many teams take a week
off, especially given a weak opponent. However, the all of the academies are
well disciplined and play with a chip on their shoulder. Do not expect malaise
to creep in at all. Navy will once again have the triple option going against a
Rice team that is simply atrocious. Expect Navy to have a 200+ yard advantage
on the ground. They should be able to control the tempo of this game and wear
down the Owl's defense.
The Rice Owl's have been terrible all season. There closest
margin of loss is 17 points, and they been unable to muster much defensive
resistance. They have been outgained by an average of 163.6 yards per gain, and
you can expect the same to happen against Navy. Three different Quarterbacks
have played for the Owl's as they have struggled to find any kind of rhythm
offensively. There is simply no factor that favors them in this matchup.
Prediction: Navy
35-17 Rice
Idaho +4 at SJSU [8:00]
Idaho
has had a surprising start to the season, and much of this can be attributed to
Quarterback Nathan Enderle who has 8 TDs to just 3 INTs, to go along with 1300
yards passing. This upstart Idaho
squad is now 4-1 on the season with an impressive road win at NIU in addition
to last weeks home win against CSU. They are playing at a level that is foreign
to Idaho football,
and have a lot of confidence. Look for this increased confidence to continue,
as Idaho will
put some points on the board, this Saturday.
On the flip side, the Spartans of San Jose are once again
toiling in obscurity. They opened the season with a 56-3 drubbing at the hands
of USC, and haven't looked great in one contest. Getting outgained by 234
yards, they only lost by 10 against Utah.
Their next game was a bitter defeat at the hands of Stanford. (42-17) This past
week, they beat FCS stalwart cal poly 19-9.
This week's game against Idaho is a case of a decent team playing
above their heads vs. a bad team mired in mediocrity. Idaho is better in every statistical
category... Idaho takes the W.