The Ohio State Buckeyes have spent the past four weeks barreling over competition, and this week they will hit the road for their third Big Ten road game so far this season. The Nebraska Cornhuskers are coming off a 21-point loss at home against Wisconsin and face an uphill battle on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET on FS1 (live stream it on FOXSportsGo.com).
Huskers head coach Mike Riley is still on the hot seat with no end in sight. Nebraska heads into Saturday’s contest 3-3 and thankfully has a bye week following the Ohio State game. The back end of its schedule includes winnable games against Northwestern and Minnesota, but it finishes the year against Penn State and Iowa. It’s going to be a long seven weeks for the head coach.
Time, TV channel, and streaming info
- Time: 7:30 p.m. ET
- Location: Memorial Stadium Lincoln, Neb.
- TV: FS1
- Streaming: FoxSportsGo
- Odds: Ohio State is favored by 22.5 points
Ohio State vs. Nebraska news:
- After weeks of keeping things relatively the same, the Buckeyes made a few big changes to this week’s depth chart.
- Riley spoke to the media this week about some injury updates and how they’re trying to put their Week 6 loss behind them.
- J.T. Barrett is finally getting comfortable with his new receivers:
He’s starting to hit the receiver on their break, which continues to show the trust that he’s developing with the wideouts. There were numerous throws during the first two weeks where he waited on the receiver to gain separation at the completion of the route, rather than trusting the receiver on his break. This is a huge step forward.
- The Huskers started last week’s matchup with a modicum of hope, only for it to be stomped to bits by the Badgers:
Nebraska fought to get back into the game, and did indeed tie at at 17-17 in the third quarter as Aaron Williams jumped in front of an Alex Hornibrook pass and returned it 15 yards for a pick six, giving Husker fans worldwide the false hope, that, yes, maybe, just maybe good things were in the not so distant future.
The Buckeyes rise in the polls but set sights on CFP rankings.
After coming into the year as a preseason No. 2 seed, things have changed a lot since Week 1. Aside from Alabama keeping its top spot, the rest of the rankings have seen big shifts every week. Most recently, the Buckeyes continued to make the climb back into the top 10 of the AP Poll and overtook the No. 1 spot in the S&P+ rankings.
Unfortunately, the top four teams heading in the Playoff aren’t decided by way of S&P+ rankings. With the official College Football Playoff rankings coming out in just a couple of weeks, these recent games are what will stick out in the minds of the committee, and the Buckeyes still need to make up for their Week 2 loss — at the expense of every mediocre team they face. Look for Urban Meyer and crew to not only get the win, but to make it count by way of a blowout.
Ohio State vs. Nebraska prediction:
The Buckeyes come away with a win in Lincoln. I’d like to argue that this winds up being a close, 60-minute game, but it’s probably more likely that Ohio State takes an early lead and runs away with things before the end of the first half.