The Illinois Fighting Illini (1-3 overall, 1-3 Big Ten) visit the Nebraska Cornhuskers (1-2, 1-2) Saturday for a noon ET kickoff. Below, we analyze the Illinois-Nebraska college football betting odds and lines, with picks and predictions.
Illinois at Nebraska: Betting odds, spread and lines
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Thursday at 9:15 a.m. ET.
- Money line: Illinois +450 (bet $100 to win $450) | Nebraska -625 (bet $625 to win $100)
- Against the spread/ATS: Illinois +14.5 (-110) | Nebraska -14.5 (-110)
- Over/Under: 59.5 (O: -106 | U: -115)
Illinois at Nebraska: Three things to know
- After losing its first three games by a combined 72 points, Illinois (+5.5) claimed its first win of the season with a 23-20 victory at Rutgers last week. PK James McCourt‘s 47-yard field with 3 seconds left won it as the Illini rallied from a 20-10 deficit in the third quarter. Backup QB Isaiah Williams – starting in place of Brandon Peters, who has been out because of COVID-19 – threw for only 104 yards with no touchdowns or interceptions, but he ran for 192 yards with a TD on 31 attempts. RB Chase Brown added 131 yards on the ground.
- Nebraska (+2.5) also won its first game of the season last week, beating Penn State 30-23 at home. Making his starting debut, redshirt freshman QB Luke McCaffrey – whose brother is NFL star Christian McCaffrey – threw for 152 yards with a TD and a pick, while running for a team-high 67 yards with a score. The Cornhuskers led 27-6 at the half but had to hold on late as the defense came through, stopping two Nittany Lions drives inside Nebraska’s 15-yard line in the final 4 minutes.
- Nebraska has won the last 4 in the series, including last season when it overcame a 14-point, third-quarter deficit in a 42-38 win at Illinois. The ‘Huskers lead the all-time series 13-3-1, including 4-0 at home since joining the Big Ten.
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Illinois at Nebraska: Odds, betting lines, predictions and picks
Prediction
Nebraska 30, Illinois 17
Money line (ML)
PASS. One has to wager more than six times their return on Nebraska (-625). It’s not worth the risk.
Against the spread (ATS)
Back ILLINOIS +14.5 (-110). McCaffrey gives life to a Nebraska offense that needed a boost; however, this is just his second start, so there’s still some “figuring it out” going on. Nebraska is 1-2 ATS; Illinois is 2-2.
Over/Under (O/U)
The UNDER 59.5 (-115) is the STRONGEST PLAY – 1.5 times your usual wager. Illinois, 1-3 O/U, averages just 17.0 points per game and allows 34.3 PPG. Nebraska is 0-3 O/U, averaging 20.0 PPG and yielding 32.0 PPG.
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| Johnny’s 2020 CFB record / Strongest plays | 13-11 / 7-3 |
| 2020 overall record (all sports) | 145-107-3 |
| Strongest plays (all sports) | 72-40-1 |
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