Wyoming keys to victory and HuskerOnline score predictions

Former Nebraska player and defensive coordinator Craig Bohl will bring his Wyoming Cowboys into Lincoln on Saturday fresh of a triple-overtime victory over Northern Illinois.

As we get closer to kickoff, here are the keys to a Husker victory, and the official HuskerOnline score predictions for Saturday.

NU enters today's 11 am game as a 24.5 point favorite over the Cowboys.

KEY 1: Handle the 11 am start time

A big thing Mike Riley has been addressing behind the scenes this week is getting his team ready for Saturday's 11 am start time. They bought special glasses that are supposed to help the players sleep better and they changed up their Friday routine. Will it make a difference? The key for 11 am games has always been starting fast, otherwise the crowd can be taken out of it.

KEY 2: Offensive balance

A lot of has been made this week about the in-balance of the Husker offense against Fresno State. NU was 80-20 in favor of the run. This week they hope to strive for more of a 60-40 run to pass ratio. Ideally that's where they want to be all season, especially with the talent the Huskers have at wide receiver.

KEY 3: Contain Allen's QB scramble plays

What worries the most about Wyoming's offense is the ability of quarterback Josh Allen to get outside of the pocket and make plays with his feet. Last week against Northern Illinois he rushed for 70 yards and caused a lot of problems. Keeping containment on Allen will definitely be major key on Saturday.

KEY 4: Play with defensive physicality

Wyoming will challenge this Husker defense with tight ends, fullbacks and a physical running back in Brian Hill that led the Mountain West conference in rushing a year ago. This will be a new challenge for the Blackshirt defense - one they didn't see last week against Fresno State.

KEY 5: Dominate the trenches on offense

Nebraska will go into this game with a 46 pound advantage on the line of scrimmage when their offensive line faces off against Wyoming's defensive line. The Cowboys go 227, 253, 299 and 232 pounds across the board on their starting front four. NU averages 299 per man on the line. This is a significant advantage, one the Huskers have to exploit on Saturday.

Sean Callahan - HuskerOnline Publisher

The inner-knowledge Wyoming and their staff has about Nebraska's roster intrigues me. All of these coaches have followed NU over the years both at North Dakota State and now Wyoming. They also have recruited a lot of the players on NU's roster at one point. With that said, I still don't see how the Cowboys defensive front will be able to match-up for four quarters. NU has a significant size advantage. Josh Allen's mobility though will cause issues and the Wyoming offense will make a few plays. I still like the Huskers to blow this one open by the early third quarter.

Nebraska 45 Wyoming 20

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Robin Washut - HuskerOnline Senior Writer

Nebraska comes in as a 24.5-point favorite today, but in my humble opinion, there’s no way this is going to be that easy. Wyoming runs the ball and is able to extend drives too well with playmaker quarterback Josh Allen. As Mark Banker said, this is going to be “a lunch bucket game” in every sense of the word.

Nebraska 38 Wyoming 27

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Nate Clouse - HuskerOnline Lead Recruiting Analyst

I see Nebraska having more balance on offense against Wyoming than it had against Fresno State, but the Cowboys still keep things close in the first half. A couple turnovers caused by the Blackshirts help Tommy Armstrong and the offense break things wide open in the final quarter.

Nebraska 35 Wyoming 13

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Mike'l Severe - Omaha World Herald Bottom Line

Wyoming has some decent skill talent on offense but I'm not sure it's OL can handle Nebraska's front four much less plus pressure. It will be interesting to see how Josh Allen does without a run game. I see NU taking advantage of the lack of size on the edges for the Cowboys and again having a big game on the ground. Late WYO score kills the cover.

Nebraska 41 Wyoming 21

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Andy Kendeigh - KETV Channel 7 Sports Director

A few things I know. I know the Huskers won't run it 80% of the time. I know Jordan Westerkamp will catch more than one pass. I know Wyoming is a much better team than the one that won just two games a year ago. De'Mornay Pierson-El will take a big step back to the player he once was and Nebraska will again win the turnover battle. It's a much closer game than the spread suggests:

Nebraska 31 Wyoming 21