The highly improved 8-4 Nebraska Cornhuskers will make the trip south to Jacksonville, Florida to do battle with the 7-5 Clemson Tigers in the 2009 Gator Bowl on New Year’s Day.
Our team of writers and handicappers break down the matchup and hand out a Gator Bowl Free Pick, which takes place Thursday January 1 at 1:00PM ET.
Oddsmakers from online sports book Sports Interaction have made Nebraska point spread favorite. The over/under for this game has been set 56 total points.
Top Public Betting Trend: Clemson is 4-1 against the spread in its last five games while Nebraska is just 8-15 against the number in its last 23 contests. The total has gone over in four of Nebraska’s last five games.
Key Stat: The Huskers offense was on a rampage this season, averaging over 36 points a game, 284.5 passing yards and 173.8 rushing yards per game, but Clemson’s defense has allowed just 16.6 points per game and only 166.6 passing yards and 127.6 rushing yards per contest.
Game Outlook: Nebraska’s offensive numbers this season are a bit deceiving because they played in a Big 12 Conference with loads of weak defenses. Clemson’s defense is better than anything the Huskers have seen all season and they’ll certainly frustrate Nebraska. The grass field of Municipal Stadium should also slow the Huskers down as well, once again giving the edge to the Tigers. The only foreseeable problem taking Clemson is that its offense has struggled at times this year, although they shouldn’t have too much trouble scoring on a Husker defense that has allowed 29.2 points per game this year. Nebraska has also yielded 233.5 passing yards per game, as well as 128 rushing yards per contest. As long as the Tigers can keep the mistakes to a minimum and not turn the ball over, they should walk away with a victory. Take the over though – this one could be a shootout with Nebraska’s combination of a great offense and poor defense. For the rest of our College Football Bowl Free Pick, see below.
Our Free College Football Bowl Pick for the Gator Bowl matchup between the Clemson Tigers and Nebraska Cornhuskers game is
CLEMSON TIGERS -3
TheSpread.com Projected Final Score
Clemson Tigers 31
Nebraska Cornhuskers 27
We also predict that this game will GO OVER THE TOTAL (56 Sports Interaction.com) SET BY ODDSMAKERS