College Football Game of the Week – #20 Nebraska vs. #8 Virginia Tech

Game-day:  9/19/2009

Kick-off:  3:30 pm EST

Two ranked teams in the NCAA Power Rankings square off on Saturday in the best football matchup of the weekend.  The Nebraska Cornhuskers have looked downright scary against two lesser opponents in 2009 while the Virginia Tech Hokies were on the verge of upsetting the Alabama Crimson Tide in their first game of 2009 but failed to get the job done.

VA Tech bounced back big time against Marshall this past Saturday and will look to make another statement, and get back into BCS contention, when they face Nebraska this Saturday.

Here are the BetOnline online sportsbook NCAA betting lines for this game:

Nebraska Cornhuskers                    +5 -110            +170                O 51 -110

Virginia Tech Hokies                        -5 -110             -210                 U 51 -110

Here are a few online wagering trends for this game.

• The Nebraska Cornhuskers are 5 and 1 ATS in their last 6 games overall.
• The Under is 5 and 1 in the Nebraska Cornhuskers last 6 non-conference games.
• The Virginia Tech Hokies are 9 and 2 ATS in their last 11 games after scoring more than 40 points in their previous game.
• The Virginia Tech Hokies are 3 and 9 against the spread in their last 12 non-conference games.

Although the trends say that Virginia Tech doesn’t cover the spread against non-conference opponents very often, the Hokies have won 31 straight non-conference games in their stadium.  That’s impressive!

On the road last year, the Hokies beat Nebraska by a score of 35 to 30.  It took two late touchdowns for the Cornhuskers to get that close.  Now, in their own stadium and with their offense popping, the Hokies racked up 605 yards against Marshall last week, Virginia Tech looks very, very tough.

Nebraska has a fist year starter at quarterback which means that VA Tech’s defense should be tough for Nebraska’s offense to move the ball against.  Add that to the fact that Nebraska’s defense hasn’t looked very good, they gave up eight plays of 15 yards or longer to Arkansas State this past Saturday, and college football betting fans have the makings of a nice wager on VA Tech.

Give up the points in this one, is what I say.  The Hokies’ offense is better then Nebraska’s defense.  Nebraska’s offense won’t move the ball against VA Tech’s defense.

I see Virginia Tech covering the -5 at -110 in the sportsbook