The 2022 college football season gets warmed up this weekend with a limited slate of 11 game featuring FBS teams. Throughout the course of the season, I’ll be posting some of my betting picks here so the Verballerhood can share in our prosperity. We’ll be posting a more in-depth preview podcast every week on Thursday mornings, covering far more games than we can list in this space. Week 0 is just an appetizer for what’s to come next weekend, but we did a preview nonethelesss. Head on out to Apple or Spotify and make sure you subscribe to the podcast so you don’t miss any of our episodes.
As for this week’s lock…
Nebraska (-13) vs. Northwestern
(12:30 pm ET / FOX)
Scott Frost has been in the pressure cooker all offseason after a tepid vote of confidence from athletic director Trev Alberts. As we’ve said on the podcast numerous times, Nebraska wasn’t necessarily a “bad” team, but it certainly did its fair share of bad team things, losing nine games by single digits. Anything short of bowl eligibilty will almost certainly mean a coaching vacancy in Lincoln. Frost spent the offseason building for 2022. The combination of transfer quarterback Casey Thompson and new offensive coordinator Mark Whipple should make the Huskers more dependable on offense.
Northwestern, meanwhile, is still picking up the pieces after a disastrous effort, particularly on defense, 2021. This offseason also saw standout safety Brandon Joseph transfer to Notre Dame. In addition, and despite all his admirable leadership qualities, Pat Fitzgerald has not been able to field a competitive offense over the last few seasons.
Nebraska won this game 56-7 last season and went up 21-0 before Northwestern knew what happened. This is a neutral site game in Ireland, and perhaps the odd environment could make for a sluggish opener. But Nebraska seems like the clear better team with something to prove.
Bet the Huskers -13.
