Ohio State football vs. Missouri: Prediction, Odds, Spread, and Over/Under for Cotton Bowl

The Ohio State football team has one final game on their 2023 slate. It's not the bowl game they wanted to be playing, but it's the one they have. Losing to TTUN in the final game of the season ended any hope of playing in the College Football Playoff and getting a chance to play for a national championship.

Instead, the Buckeyes take on Missouri in the Cotton Bowl on Friday. Ohio State will do so with a new starting quarterback now that Kyle McCord is at Syracuse. Devin Brown will get the start and will get the first chance to win the quarterback job for next season,

Ohio State football vs. Missouri: Odds, Spread, and Total

The Buckeyes started out as 6.5-point favorites when this matchup was first announced. Since then, the line has dropped a ton. According to FanDuel, the line currently has Ohio State as a 1.5-point favorite. There was a point when Missouri was favored too.

The total sits at 48.5, which is low for bowl games. But if you look at how Ohio State has played all year, they have been a defensive team. Add in the fact that Brown is the quarterback, it makes a little more sense that the total like is so low.

Ohio State football vs. Missouri: Key Players to Watch

For Ohio State, it's pretty simple. It's Devin Brown, the new starting quarterback for the Buckeyes. Brown hasn't started a game yet in his career. He played in a couple of games early in the year when he and McCord were still fighting to solidify the starting job.

If Brown can play well in this game, he very well could sew up the starting job for the 2024 season. He will have most of his weapons available to him as well. No one has opted out of the bowl game as of this writing, so the offense should still be pretty potent.

For Missouri, it's Cody Schrader. Schrader was the engine of the Tigers' offense this year. He ran for almost 1,500 yards and 13 touchdowns. As great as Ohio State's defense was, they weren't as good at stopping the run as they were at stopping the passing game.

Ohio State football vs. Missouri Prediction and Pick

Missouri had a good season. They are ranked 9th in the country for a reason. They only lost two games, including just a single-digit loss to Georgia. Ohio State is still the better team in my opinion, even after losing all of the players they did to the transfer portal.

Give me the Buckeyes 24-22 in a close one.