Nebraska vs. Cincinnati Odds, Best Bets: Huskers Poised For Breakthrough?

After both teams started out strong before struggling down the stretch last fall, Nebraska (which finished 7-6 after a 5-1 start) and Cincinnati (which started 5-2 before an 0-5 finish) kick off the 2025 season in primetime on Thursday night.

Cornhuskers vs. Bearcats gets underway from Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City at 9 p.m. EDT, with the former favored by a touchdown.

Nebraska vs. Cincinnati Betting Odds

How To Watch Nebraska vs. Cincinnati

Nebraska vs. Cincinnati Betting Analysis

• Nebraska 2024 record: 7-6 (3-6 Big Ten)
• Cincinnati 2024 record: 5-7 (3-6 Big 12)

The 2025 season marks Year 3 for both Nebraska coach Matt Rhule and Cincinnati coach Scott Satterfield.

Is Rhule — who went 10-4 in his third season at Temple back in 2015, then led Baylor to an 11-3 record in his third season in Waco in 2019 — on the verge of another breakthrough?

On the other sideline, Satterfield needs a strong start to 2025 to stay off the hot seat. He has gone 8-16 as the Bearcats’ head coach after going 47-16 at Appalachian State from 2014-18 and 25-24 at Louisville from 2019-22.

Nebraska Betting News, Outlook

Nebraska has been solid on defense each of the last two years under Rhule. Last September, then-true-freshman Dylan Raiola looked like the missing piece. The Cornhuskers started the 2024 season 3-0, outscoring UTEP, Colorado and Northern Iowa 102-20 to climb as high as No. 22 in the AP poll.

But in a Week 4 loss to Illinois in overtime, the Cornhuskers were outgained 166-48 on the ground, and Raiola was sacked six times. O-line issues persisted throughout the rest of the year, with Raiola getting sacked 20 times in the final nine games of the season. Nebraska also averaged just 3.8 yards per carry for the season.

In six regular-season games in 2024 that were decided by one possession (8 points or fewer), this team went just 1-5, including a heartbreaking 21-17 loss to Ohio State.

With a step forward from Raiola in his second season, Nebraska could be a factor in the Big Ten, especially when you consider not only how close the Huskers were in most of last year’s losses, but their 2025 schedule.

Six Big Ten programs — No. 2 Penn State, No. 3 Ohio State, No. 7 Oregon, No. 12 Illinois, No. 14 Michigan and No. 20 Indiana — enter this season ranked in the AP top 25.

Only two teams on that list (Penn State and Michigan) are on Nebraska’s regular-season schedule.

Cincinnati Betting News, Outlook

After struggling on both sides of the ball in 2024, especially down the stretch, Cincinnati enters this season with low expectations. The Big 12 is wide-open, but 10 teams enter the season with shorter odds (via DraftKings) than Cincy to win the conference.

The Bearcats’ preseason projected win total of 6.5 is another sign that this could be a long year.

Former Indiana QB Brendan Sorsby was solid early in his first season under center for Cincinnati. But he threw for 200 yards or fewer in four of his last five games last year as the Bearcats lost to Colorado, West Virginia, Iowa State, Kansas State and TCU.

After scoring 17 points or fewer in their last three games of 2024, then losing their starting RB and top four wide receivers this offseason, it’s hard to see the Bearcats putting up many points vs. Nebraska in Week 1.

Nebraska vs. Cincinnati Pick, Best Bets

I’m not yet completely sold on Nebraska making the same leap that Matt Rhule’s last two teams did in his third season, but I do expect the Nebraska defense to stifle Sorsby and Cincinnati.

Another reason to like the favorites is this “neutral-site” game’s location. Arrowhead is much closer to Memorial Stadium in Lincoln than Nippert Stadium in Cincinnati. That should make for a decidedly pro-Huskers crowd.

Nebraska has a new defensive coordinator in John Butler and a new offensive coordinator, Dana Holgorsen, which makes trusting the Huskers to get off to a hot start a bit risky.

That being said, as long as Raiola takes care of the football, Nebraska should be able to cover the spread.

Best bets:

• Nebraska -6.5 (-115 at DK, bet365) — 1 unit
• Cincinnati Team Total Under 21.5 (-113 at FanDuel) — 1 unit

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