The Nebraska Cornhuskers (5-3, 2-3 Big Ten) and the Illinois Fighting Illini (5-3, 3-2 Big Ten) meet Friday at 8 p.m. ET at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Illinois. Nebraska has lost three consecutive games, most recently a 17-10 defeat to Washington, while Illinois has won three in a row, including a 20-17 victory over Maryland. The Cornhuskers are 1-1 on the road this season; the Fighting Illini are 3-2 at home.
Nebraska opens as a 4-point favorite with an over/under of 50.5 points. The money line lists Nebraska at -188 and Illinois at +160.
A projection model that simulates each FBS game 10,000 times favors the over on the total, projecting 53 combined points. The over has hit in four of the last seven head-to-head meetings and in five of the last eight Illinois games. The model projects Nebraska quarterback Anthony Colandrea to throw for more than 200 yards and a touchdown while adding nearly 30 rushing yards and a score; Colandrea has thrown for 1,825 yards and 15 touchdowns this season. Illinois quarterback Katin Houser is expected to throw for nearly 220 yards and a touchdown, having accumulated 1,663 yards and 13 touchdowns on the year.
The model also indicates one side of the spread hits in well over 50% of simulations. It entered Week 10 on an 80-77 run on top-rated college football picks.
