Nebraska at Missouri: ESPN College Football Odds

Gamblers and fans could not possibly ask for a better way to begin week 6 college football odds than with Thursday night’s ESPN college football match-up from the Big 12 as the 24th ranked Missouri Tigers host the 21st ranked Nebraska Cornhuskers in a pivotal North Division showdown. The college football betting odds opened with Nebraska as a 3-point favorite for this one but it won't be easy at “The Zou” which has become one of the toughest venues in the nation to win at and with a sellout crowd expected. Kickoff is set for 9:00pm EST from Faurot Field.

Nebraska enters this match-up with a record of 3-1 straight up and 4-0 against the college football odds. After two blowout wins to start the season the Huskers lost a heartbreaker at Virginia Tech to the defending ACC champion Hokies 15-16 as they blew a late lead as they allowed Tech to travel the length of the field and score in the final moments. Nebraska impressed everyone in college football betting odds by bouncing back strong last week with a 55-0 blowout win as 30-point home favorites over Louisiana Lafayette.

The Missouri Tigers lost super star players from their past two double digit win seasons as record setting quarterback Chase Daniel, All American tight end Chase Coffman, and All American wideout Jeremy Maclin all went to the NFL. It was feared Mizzou would face a rebuilding season but so far they look better than ever as they are 4-0 straight up and 3-1 against the college football odds. Mizzou last played in a Friday night ESPN college football telecast on September 25th and scored a 31-21 win at Nevada as 7-point road favorites. The big news out of Columbia has been the play of sophomore Tiger quarterback Blaine Gabbert, who has completed 66% of his passes for 1161 yards and 11 touchdowns.

Gabbert is yet to be intercepted this year. Another area of promise has been the Mizzou defense as it ranks 21st in the nation for points allowed, which is a significant improvement from last year. New defensive coordinator Dave Steckel has brought a more fiery and aggressive personality to the unit. The defense has also improved at cutting down on big plays by the opposition. Speaking of defense, Nebraska appears to be back to its famed “Blackshirt” tradition as they rank 1st in the nation for points allowed. Missouri has won and covered the last 3 meetings between the teams in this series at Farout Field and has covered 4 out of the last 6 meetings overall in this series.

Gordon's College Football Picks: Although all the handicappers and sportsbooks are picking Nebraska in this Thursday night game on ESPN, my college football pick will be to take the Tigers plus the points at home to the UNDER. Vegas odds at the Hilton sportsbook have Nebraska -4 favorites in week 6 college football odds against Missouri with a total of 53.