Ohio State Football: Buckeyes three touchdown favorite vs.Cornhuskers
By Chris Bruns
The Ohio State football team is a big favorite in Vegas against the Nebraska Cornhuskers. Can the Buckeyes cover a 21 point spread on Saturday?
The Buckeyes are 21 point favorites according to Bovada in their first game since losing against the Purdue Boilermakers last week.
The Cornhuskers entered the season with high hopes for first-year coach Scott Frost and freshman quarterback Adrian Martinez, but got off to a rough start. But Nebraska comes to Columbus riding a two-game winning streak, while Ohio State has faced an existential crisis during its bye week.
Defensive lapses and a failure to run the ball effectively have haunted OSU all year, and questions surround the program to the extent that one sports book placed 5 / 4 odds that Urban Meyer would be around to coach next season.
Still, Vegas likes the Buckeyes — and history bears them out.
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The Cornhuskers may be 5-2-1 against the spread in their last 8 road games, but Urban Meyer has had their number. In the last 4 matchups, Ohio State has scored an average of 52 points, giving up just 22.
The Buckeyes have been bad against the spread, a victim of high expectations and lower than expected performances against weaker teams. OSU is 0-4 against the spread in their last 4 games.
Another thing to take into consideration is the fact that the Cornhuskers have kept the score close in several of their losses. In fact, only Michigan has defeated Nebraska by more than 21 points, 56-10 in Ann Arbor on September 22nd.
With such uncertainty around both programs, the safest bet may be taking the over. 5 of the last 6 Nebraska games have gone over, while 11 of the Buckeyes last 16 conference games have done the same.
Next. Buckeyes No. 8, three loss SEC teams ranked. dark
While the over / under has yet to be released, Oddsshark.com predicts a final score of 50-21 in favor of the Buckeyes — a total of 71 points, and a tally that would both cover the spread and please a lot of angry Ohio State fans.