Washington Huskies

"Get off me bro!" Nebraska continues to run the ball with ease.

No. 8 NEBRASKA CORNHUSKERS (-3.5) @ WASHINGTON HUSKIES — 3:30 ABC

Like I mentioned earlier this week, I’m liking the Cornhuskers -3.5 in this one.  I thought this spread would be more like -4.5 or -5.5. On the other hand, Washington was one of those teams that I wanted to ride this year with the development of QB Jake Locker and the nice weapons that he has around him. Washington let me down week 1 against BYU, but bounced back with a nice cover against Syracuse, a game that Brandon picked.

We all know that Nebraska is known for their defense, but the player to watch in this one is QB Taylor Martinez. Martinez has averaged 142 rushing yards per game with an average of 13.5 YPC — that’s ridiculous! He already has 5 rushing TDs in 2 games. Not only is Martinez a tremendous rushing threat, but he throws a nice ball as well, completing nearly 70% of his passes. Oh yeah, this guy is the real deal. See highlights below. Granted, the defenses he’s faced (Western Kentucky and Idaho) are laughing matters, but there’s no doubt that this kid is a talented player and he’ll be facing another weak defense. Washington has a questionable defense at best. I don’t think think they’ll have enough to stop this Nebraska offense that has put up 49 and 38 in their first two games.

One thing to worry about is how the redshirt freshman is able to handle his first start on the road. That is one thing to be concerned about. However, when it doubt, just your wheels Taylor. Nebraska has managed a 5-2 record ATS in …

WR #15 Jermaine Kearse is the player to watch in this one.

WASHINGTON HUSKIES @ BYU COUGARS -3

Washington has been a notoriously awful football team for the better part of the last decade, but has shown signs of turning their program around last year. Ever since their 2001 Rose Bowl appearance, they’ve struggled big time. Here are their records since 2001 in chronological order: 7-6, 6-6, 1-10, 2-9, 5-7, 4-9, 0-12, 5-7. The bottom line is that this team hasn’t produced a winning season since 2002, but they were able to improve on their 0-12 2008 season by going 5-7 this past year. Everyone tried to pound the Huskies last year and more often than not, they got burned as the Huskies had a 7-5 record ATS. They covered against USC, Notre Dame, Arizona, UCLA, and Cal. Even more impressive was the fact that they closed the season by defeating Cal 42-10 after shutting out Washington State 30-0, as well as upsetting USC 16-13. However, Washington struggled on the road going 0-5 and getting crushed by the likes of Oregon State and Stanford, who they were unable to cover against.

BYU was tremendous this past season, closing the year with an 11-2 record and going 8-5 ATS and finishing 14th in the BCS standings ahead of teams such as Pitt, Oregon State, Stanford, Utah, and West Virginia. That kind of performance last year begs the question, why is this team only giving up 3 points at home? Something has to be up. Let’s see what we can dig up.

First, with a spread like this, you know that some key players from last year won’t be back this season. BYU’s stud QB Max Hall has graduated and moved onto …