Purdue has beaten Nebraska in five of the last six meetings, with the one Nebraska win coming the last time they played in Lincoln. Purdue has won the last two games after losing three straight, but has not covered in eight of their last nine games. In their last game, they were an 18-point favorite at home against Oregon and couldn't put them away until a minute left in the game. Star Braden Smith had 6 of the 14 turnovers in that game. That's the bottom of the basement, Oregon, which is 1-12 in the Big Ten. Now they go to Nebraska, which started the season 20-0 before losing their first game at Michigan, and then to Illinois. The Boilermakers aren’t hitting on all cylinders.

There might be a little bit of blood in the water for the Boilermakers and Nebraska, playing in Pinnacle Bank, is the kind of team that's good enough to pounce. Purdue needed some late-game heroics to help avoid a potential disaster home loss to Oregon over the weekend, and the interior defensive issues that have been a constant in Big Ten play once again played a role in that game being way closer than expected. That might not sound like an issue against a 5-out heavy offense, but Nebraska forces teams to make the right switches and rotations and I'm not sure Purdue has enough elite stoppers to meet the challenge.