Why is Nebraska Favored Over No. 16 Iowa on Friday?

While not always a common occurrence, many times college football teams open as surprising favorites despite being unranked vs. a ranked team.

In the case of No. 16 Iowa at Nebraska on Friday, however, the Cornhuskers line, given the state and record of their program had to have opened plenty of sports bettors' eyes.

Nebraska, despite a 3-8 record, is currently a 1.5-point favorite at WynnBET Sportsbook over the 16th ranked team in the country in Iowa; sitting at 9-2 straight-up.

Our Reed Wallach wrote about the matchup earlier this week and the roller coaster type line movement that has come with it following Adrian Martinez being out for Nebraska. The Cornhuskers actually opened as -3.5 point favorites, moved all the way back to +1.5, and are now back to being favored at home.

Despite being 3-8, Nebraska hasn't lost by more than double digits this season, mainly due to Martinez's high usage. While he has played the team out of games with turnovers, he has done everything for this offense, compiling more than 3,400 all purpose yards and 27 touchdowns.

As Wallach points out, Nebraska has been in every game this season, and with Iowa's recent struggles on the offensive side of the ball, the Huskers may finally be able to get off the schneid and close out a big Big Ten game.

Our Matt De Caro also mentions that Nebraska has been a very solid bet this season:

Despite their 3-8 overall record, Nebraska has done well against the spread and covered seven of their last 10 games and have lost by nine points or less in all five games during their losing streak. So, they are getting beat but not bad enough for an ATS loss.

Both teams kick off at 1:30pm ET from Memorial Stadium in Lincoln.