2005 Nebraska Cornhuskers Handicapping Review

 

By Tom Wilkinson

 

There was no doubt that change was occurring at Nebraska with new coach Bill Callahan bringing in his “West Coast Offense” to replace the Huskers long feared option attack that served them well since the 1960’s. Still, it is doubtful that anyone expected to see what ended up taking place at Lincoln in 2004 as Nebraska suffered their first losing season straight up since 1961 and found themselves in sports handicapping situations that few expected or had ever seen before from the Huskers. Nebraska has always been a “name brand” college football team with a large following and many online sports bettors were posting hopeful predictions that Callahan would keep the Big Red, at the very least, a bowl team which had been the case every year since 1969.

In their 2004 season opener against 1-AA Western Illinois, Nebraska prevailed 56-17 in an unlined game. The result encourage sports bettors, however, as the theory was that NU did what a powerhouse is supposed to do against a 1-AA team. The win helped jack up Nebraska’s sports betting line in their next game, however, against a respected and solid Southern Miss team that had a reputation as a “giant killer.” The Big Red was installed as 14-point chalks and lost straight up 17-21, immediately grabbing the attention of sports betting bloggers who now expressed doubt about including Nebraska on their future lists of football picks. This set up, incredibly enough, quite a sports handicapping market value as Nebraska traveled to Pittsburgh, who was considered a strong Big East title contender and installed as a 4.5-point chalk by the sports betting odds makers. Many online sports betting blogs proclaimed Pitt as a “lock” in this one, but Nebraska pulled off a 24-17 surprise win. In their next game at home against Kansas, NU was a 12.5-point chalk but was lackluster in a 14-8 win. Nebraska now stood at 3-1 straight up but 1-2 against the odds. In a stunning turn of events, Nebraska was destroyed 10-70 at Texas Tech as mere 7-point dogs in their next game. This permanently turned the sports handicapping fraternity against the Huskers because the result was so shocking. It did increase NU’s value four games later at Oklahoma, who was installed as 30-point home chalks against the Huskers and who’s defensive coordinator, Bo Pelini, was said to be seeking revenge for being passed over as coach for Callahan. OU was proclaimed a lock by many sports betting bloggers but a late NU field goal got the cash in the Huskers’ 3-30 loss, making for one of 2004’s worst “bad beats” for the Oklahoma backers. NU finished 4-6 against the line in 2004.