The Nebraska Cornhuskers are now 3-4 on the season after a rousing 48-25 road win over Minnesota last week, and they've got a fantastic shot to get back to .500 with a home over a reeling Northwestern team on Saturday. Here's 3 reasons why they'll do just that.
3) Tommy Armstrong's ability
Armstrong hasn't been the perfect QB, but he's been much better as a pocket passer this season. He's also shown incredible heart and guts through seven games, nearly pulling off a huge comebacks in almost all of their losses. Armstrong has shown this season that he's good enough leader and playmaker to guide the Cornhuskers to a Big Ten title - if the rest of the team can find some consistency, this team would be much, much better.
2) Northwestern's atrocious defense
This is weird to say considering the fact that Northwestern gave up 44 total points in their five wins to open the season. However, the Wildcats have fallen off the map in back-to-back losses against Michigan and Iowa. The Wildcats defense gave up a combined 78 points in those outings, and Nebraska's offense is on such a roll that we can't see them getting back into the swing of things on Saturday.
1) The late-game struggles have to end at some point, right?
Nebraska is only a few plays away from being 7-0 this season. They lost on a Hail Mary to BYU, lost in OT to Miami, on a touchdown on the last play of scrimmage agaisnt Illinois and on a last-minute field goal to Wisconsin - all of which are games that Nebraska could have won easily. Had they done that, Nebraska winning the Big Ten West would be on the docket, but they haven't been able to make the plays down the stretch when they've needed to. That has to change at some point, and there's no time like the present.