The Ohio State Buckeyes are ineligible to win the Big Ten championship this season, but they’ll still have plenty to say about who does.
Ohio State vs. Nebraska: Betting odds, preview and pick
Can the Huskers shed their underdog-patsy reputation to win outright at Ohio State? Bettors think not, putting money behind the Buckeyes in this Big Ten clash.
Mike Carter-US PRESSWIRE - Presswire
Saturday night the 5-0 Buckeyes get a chance to cause headaches for one conference title contender when they host the 4-1 Nebraska Cornhuskers at the Big Horseshoe in Columbus (8 pm ET, ABC).
Ohio State opened as a four- or five-point favorite for this game at various online sportsbooks, but has since been dropped to -3.5 and even -3 at some CFB betting outlets.
But Nebraska, for all its history, has been a bunch if wimps in the role of underdog. In the past 20 games as a dog, the Huskers have lost 18!
Ohio State began this season and the Coach Meyer era with a 56-10 victory over Miami-Ohio. The Buckeyes then beat Central Florida 31-16, Cal 35-28 and UAB 29-15, but failed to cover the pointspread in each of those games.
Last week the Buckeyes went on the road for the first time this season, up to East Lansing, and beat the Michigan State Spartans 17-16, rushing for 202 yards and holding MSU’s Le’Veon Bell to 45 yards on the ground.
On the other side of this matchup Nebraska opened its season with a 49-20 win over Southern Mississippi, then went out to UCLA and got beat 36-30, giving up an alarming 653 yards of offense. The Huskers then came home to beat Arkansas State 42-13 and Idaho State 73-7.
Last week Nebraska opened its Big Ten slate with a 30-27 come-from-behind win over Wisconsin. The Huskers trailed the Badgers 27-10 in the third quarter, then scored 20 unanswered points to claim the victory.
Last year Nebraska came from behind to beat Ohio State 34-27 in Lincoln. The Huskers trailed 27-6 in the third quarter but knocked Buckeyes QB Braxton Miller out of the game, then scored four unanswered touchdowns to steal the victory.
Nebraska QB Taylor Martinez and RB Rex Burkhead both rushed for 100 yards that night at Memorial Stadium.
Nebraska last played in Columbus back in 1956.
Free Pick: This should be a good one, between two evenly-matched teams. But Martinez can be tough to stop, as Wisconsin found out last week, and Burkhead is nearly healed from his knee injury of earlier this season. So we’ll take the points with the Huskers. (courtesy of PickShark.com)
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