The sixth-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes will look to bounce back after suffering their only loss of the season the last time out while simultaneously snapping the Northwestern Wildcats’ modest winning streak. Okay, let’s find out of the Buckeyes can bring home the bacon as well as the latest college football betting lines!
Here’s A Closer Look At The Wildcats At Buckeyes College Football Expert Predictions
When: Saturday, October 29, 2016 at 3:30 PM ET
Where: Ohio Stadium
TV: ESPN
Live Stream: Watch ESPN
Betting Odds: Ohio State Buckeyes -21
Why Bet Northwestern at +21
Northwestern has won three straight including a narrow 24-14 win over Indiana as a 3-point favorite last weekend. For the season, quarterback Clayton Thorson is completing 57.9 percent of his passes for 1,686 yards with 14 touchdowns and five interceptions. Thorson has thrown three touchdown passes in each of his last three games.
The Northwestern Wildcats are averaging a modest 25.8 points per game to rank 87th nationally while limiting the opposition to 21.8 points per contest defensively (34th).
Why Ohio State at -21
Because the Buckeyes are playing at home and have a huge sense of urgency. Ohio State suffered their first loss of the season by falling to Penn State 24-21 this past weekend while never coming close to covering the spread as a huge 17.5-point favorite. The good news for Buckeyes fans is that Ohio State has no lost consecutive games since 2013. For the season, dual-threat signal-caller J.T. Barrett is completing an impressive 63.6 percent of his passes for 1,452 yards with17 touchdowns and a modest four interceptions. Barrett has thrown at least one touchdown pass in each of his last three games.
Receivers Curtis Samuel and Noah Brown have combined for 635 receiving yards and nine touchdowns while running back Mike Weber has rushed for a team-high 683 yards and four touchdowns. The Buckeyes are ranked an identical fifth nationally in scoring (45.2 ppg) and points allowed (14.4 ppg).
Expert Prediction and Pick
This Week 9 matchup is a lot like last weekend’s contest where Ohio State was too big of a favorite over a pretty good Penn State team. While Ohio State has gone 25-9-1 ATS in their last 35 games following a straight up loss and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 home games, Northwestern has gone 5-1 ATS in their last six road games and 4-1 ATS in their last five games overall, making the Wildcats the pick to cover the spread at the very least.
Northwestern has a pretty good defense and they should have learned a thing or two after watching the Buckeyes’ last two games. The Buckeyes win, but Northwestern covers the spread.
