Nebraska vs Minnesota Picks and Prediction – 9/1/2023

The Nebraska Cornhuskers visit Huntington Bank Stadium in Minneapolis, Minnesota on Thursday to play the Minnesota Golden Gophers in the opening game of the college football regular season for both teams. Nebraska was 4-8 overall and 3-6 in Big Ten play in 2022. Matt Rhule takes over as the head coach for Nebraska. Transfer Jeff Sims will start at quarterback for the Cornhuskers, while the starting running back will be Rahmir Johnson. Keep up with College Football, with our College Football picks.

Marcus Washington, Isaiah Garcia-Castaneda and Zavier Betts are the likely three starting wide receivers. Nebraska's defense has been very poor the last few seasons, but has the talented Luke Reimer, Myles Farmer and Isaac Gifford as the top three tacklers from a season ago. The secondary will consist of starters Gifford, Corey Collier, Quinton Newsome and Malcolm Hartzog.

The Minnesota Golden Gophers finish the 2022 regular season 9-4 overall and 5-4 in Big Ten play. Athan Kaliakmanis is the returning quarterback for Minnesota, who last season passed for 946 yards with three touchdowns and four interceptions. Sean Tyler, who transferred from Western Michigan, will be the lead running back for the Golden Gophers. Brevyn Spann-Ford is a preseason All-American tight end, while Eligah Spencer and Corey Crooms Jr, another pair of transfers, giving Minnesota a strong receivers corps.

Minnesota's defense must replace several players from a unit that ranked fourth in the country last season in points allowed at 13.8 points per game. The secondary was hardest hit with two players now in the NFL and a third transferring out. Darius Green and Justin Walley return as does Tyler Nubin. The linebackers will be led by Cody Lindenberg, while the pass rush ranked 118th last season and needs help.