Badgers favored over Buckeyes
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (The Spread) – No. 6 Ohio State is having to put its playoff hopes in the hands of a third-string quarterback when it faces the surging and 11th-ranked Wisconsin in the Big Ten Championship.
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Ohio State improved to 11-1 on the season with a 42-28 win over Michigan last week, but the Buckeyes lost quarterback J.T. Barrett to a broken ankle for the rest of the season. Barrett had thrown for 2,834 yards and 34 touchdowns while rushing for 938 yards and 11 scores in place of Braxton Miller, who was injured in the preseason. Now, Ohio State puts its hopes in Cardale Jones, who has thrown just 17 passes on the year. The Buckeyes need a win to likely get into the college football playoff. They come into this game at 7-5 against the spread.
Wisconsin is 10-2 on the season and coming off a 34-24 win over Minnesota for its seventh straight victory. The Badgers have been hard to figure out, as they sometimes look like a juggernaut and sometimes look like a pushover. The Badgers are just 5-7 against the spread this year and they enter this game having lost six of their last seven against the Buckeyes.
The injury to Barrett is clearly impacting the spread for this one, as oddsmakers from Bovada.lv have Wisconsin as a 4-point favorite against Ohio State for Saturday’s 8:17PM ET kickoff on FOX (View Matchup). The over/under total for the game is listed at 52.5 points.
This game will likely be decided by the run game. Both teams have strong ground attacks, with Wisconsin averaging 334.3 yards per game and the Buckeyes posting 257.4 yards per game. With Jones under center, Urban Meyer may look to avoid passing too much, but Wisconsin comes into this game with the stronger run defense, allowing just 103.8 yards per game on the ground. Ohio State isn’t bad, but giving up 145.3 yards per game on the ground and facing the stronger back in Melvin Gordon, who has 2,260 rushing yards with 26 touchdowns.
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