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Nebraska enters the game with Michigan State at 2-2 on the season, following a hard-fought 23-16 loss at No. 3 Oklahoma on Saturday. The Huskers went toe-to-toe with the Sooners throughout the game, and limited Oklahoma to its fewest points in the past five seasons.
The Huskers will be looking to even their Big Ten record after a season-opening loss at Illinois on Aug. 28. Nebraska will look to continue its strong defensive play in East Lansing. The Huskers have allowed just 33 combined points in the past three games, marking the Blackshirts’ best three-game scoring defense stretch in 11 seasons.
Michigan State is off to a strong start to the 2021 season. After a 2-5 campaign in 2020, MSU stands at 3-0 to open the year after an impressive 38-17 victory at Miami on Saturday. The Spartans are 1-0 in Big Ten play after opening the season with an impressive 38-21 victory at defending Big Ten West champion Northwestern. The win at Miami vaulted the Spartans into the national polls, ranking No. 20 in the Associated Press Poll and No. 21 in the USA Today Coaches Poll.
The Spartans have relied on a strong running game to power their impressive start. MSU is averaging 263.7 rushing yards per game to rank third in the Big Ten and 11th nationally. Michigan State has also been tough against the run, allowing just 112.0 yards per game on the ground.
Date/Time: September 25, 2017 at 6:00 p.m. CDT
Location: East Lansing, MI, Spartan Stadium
Surface: Grass
Opposition Blog: Check out The Only Colors for everything Spartan
Series Record: Nebraska leads the all-time series 9-2.
TV: The game will be televised on FS1 with play-by play with Aaron Goldsmith and analyst Mark Helfrich, It can be streamed on Fox Sports app with a login from your service provider.
Radio: Huskers sports radio network. The audio can also be streamed live for free at huskers.com The crew will be: Greg Sharpe, Matt Davison, and Bredan Stai.
More streaming options: The official Huskers app is available on iTunes and Google Play. The audio of Husker games is no longer available on TuneIn.
Weather: At kickoff, it will be cool and cloudy with a temperature in the lower 60s. It will cool off throughout the game into the 50s. There will be light winds around 11 mph. The weather models are all over the place on whether we can expect rain or not. I have seen every guess from nearly 0% chance up to 90% chance.
Odds: Michigan State is favored by 3.5 points
Trivia
Nebraska quarterback Adrian Martinez has surpassed 1,000 passing yards for the fourth straight season. He is the first quarterback in Nebraska history to record four 1,000-yard passing seasons.
Nebraska will be taking on No. 20 Michigan State on Saturday, a week after playing at No. 3 Oklahoma. This will mark the sixth time in school history Nebraska has played back-to-back road games against ranked teams and the first time since 2016.
Nebraska has been strong in the fourth quarter this season, outscoring its opponents 41-7 for a 34-point margin. Nebraska has allowed only an Oklahoma touchdown in the fourth quarter in four games this season.
Quotables
Frost spoke about the team's anticipation for the game this weekend.
"The guys are excited to get back out on the field," Frost said. "I think they were encouraged by last week and we know we have another great opportunity this week so the preparation was good the guys are excited."
Frost discussed his thoughts on playing a night game.
"I can tell you from my experience as a player and sitting around the hotel all day it is not as much fun as just getting up and getting the game done," he said. "But the trade off is night games are special so I am sure the environment will be great up there."
He was also asked about Michigan State's running back threat, Kenneth Walker.
"He is a really good player," Frost said. "When he gets a head of steam downfield he is hard to tackle. It is hard for one guy to bring him down. He has been a huge difference for them. I think they are good all around him but he is a pretty special player and trying to contain him is going to be a big part of our game plan."