The Ohio State football team continues to have momentum flowing all the way from their win against Penn State. The Buckeyes followed that win up with a 45-0 shutout of Purdue. Now, they travel to Chicago to take on Northwestern at Wrigley Field. It's a very unique environment for a football game.
This isn't a game that a lot of fans of the Ohio State Buckeyes are worried about. With the weather benign, the Wildcats shouldn't have much of a chance to win this game. At least, on paper. This is also a trap game with the Buckeyes having another top-five matchup next weekend in the Shoe.
While Indiana is obviously the tougher opponent next weekend, they still need to focus on Northwestern. There are still some things they need to work on in this game. Vegas doesn't think this game is going to be very close though.
Ohio State football vs. Northwestern final odds
According to DraftKings, the Buckeyes are favored by 28.5 points. That's not as big as I was expecting. After what Ohio State did last week to the Boilermakers, I would have thought the spread would have been at least 30. Instead, it's just over four touchdowns. The over/under is 44.
Northwestern doesn't score a lot of points. That's part of the reason why I thought the spread would have been bigger. Ohio State is going to want to keep showing dominance as they head into the big showdown with IU next week. Confidence is going to be key.
Prediction: Ohio State football 42 Northwestern 6
Ohio State's offense is so much better than Northwestern's defense. The Buckeyes are going to be able to do pretty much whatever they want on offense Will Howard should light up the stat sheet. Defensively, Ohio State should be able to keep the Wildcats from gaining a ton of yards and scoring a lot of points.
Still, Northwestern is better than Purdue. They'll put up some points of their own. I'd still be surprised to see them score a touchdown in this game, even against the backups that will likely be in when the fourth quarter starts.