Indiana 7.5-point road favorite at undefeated Nebraska — SkimNews
Get the Sports newsletter
Daily sports — scores, transfers, the storylines from the leagues you actually follow. Free.
- Indiana enters as a 7.5-point road favorite despite visiting an undefeated Nebraska squad, with kickoff set for noon ET Saturday in a Week 6 Big Ten matchup.
- The Hoosiers are ranked No. 7 under Curt Cignetti after winning last season's national championship, but lost Heisman-winning QB Fernando Mendoza and other starters to the NFL.
- Josh Hoover, a TCU transfer now running Indiana's offense, ranks third nationally in both passer rating and touchdowns thrown entering Week 6.
- Nebraska is averaging 43.6 points per game behind QB Anthony Colandrea (formerly of Virginia and UNLV), who has thrown 13 touchdowns — matching Ohio State's Julian Sayin and Notre Dame's CJ Carr.
- Nebraska's defense ranks 17th nationally in total defense (265.8 yards allowed per game); Indiana sits fourth and is averaging 44.2 points per game as the nation's eighth-highest scoring offense.
- The SportsLine projection model, which enters Week 6 at 40-35 on top-rated college football picks, projects Nebraska +7.5 to cover in 63% of its 10,000 simulations.
Why it matters: Indiana and Nebraska average nearly identical offensive output (44.2 vs. 43.6 PPG), meaning the 7.5-point spread prices in more separation than the underlying stats support. For Matt Rhule's Cornhuskers, who earned the sixth-most votes of any unranked AP team, covering or winning outright serves as the first credible litmus test of whether the program's top-tier return is real.
Ask SkimNews
