The No. 5 Ohio State Buckeyes are 12-3 straight up and against the spread in their last 15 games against teams in the Pac-12 conference. Two of those three straight-up losses came to Ohio State’s opponent in this year’s Cotton Bowl, the No. 8 USC Trojans.
Cotton Bowl odds 2017: Ohio State betting favorite over USC for matchup
Ohio State and USC battle for conference supremacy in the Cotton Bowl Friday, with the sportsbooks setting the Buckeyes are sizable favorites on the odds.
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Ohio State is a 7.5-point favorite Friday night in Arlington at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. The betting favorite is 6-3-1 in the last 10 Cotton Bowl matchups.
USC Trojans vs. Ohio State Buckeyes
When: Friday, Dec. 29, 8:30 p.m. ET
Where: AT&T Stadium, Arlington, Texas
Betting Line / Total: Ohio State -7.5 / 65 Points
Ohio State Buckeyes
A 55-24 loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes sticks out like a sore thumb on Ohio State’s 11-2 SU and 6-7 ATS resume in 2017. The Buckeyes had a legitimate case to be included in the College Football Playoff with big wins over Penn State and Wisconsin and the Big Ten championship, but the major misstep against Iowa cost Ohio State the No. 4 spot that instead went to the Alabama Crimson Tide. Ohio State went 4-0 SU and 2-2 ATS after that loss en route to the conference title.
In 16 games as a single-digit favorite since the start of the 2012 season, the Buckeyes are 12-4 SU and 10-6 ATS per the OddsShark College Football Database.
USC Trojans
It is difficult to label an 11-2 SU season that resulted in a Pac-12 championship as a disappointment. But for this USC Trojans team that entered the season at No. 4 in the preseason polls and with quarterback Sam Darnold going off as the betting favorite to win the Heisman Trophy, 2017 felt like a bit of a letdown. The Trojans rarely looked dominant over their 11-2 run with a 4-9 record ATS and suffered a major blow in their 49-14 loss to Notre Dame. USC is just 1-8 SU and ATS in its last nine games as an underdog.
Friday’s total is set at 65 points. The OVER is 8-2 in Ohio State’s last 10 games and 5-2 in USC’s last seven.
While USC’s case to be a playoff team may not be a strong as Ohio State’s, the Trojans should still be frustrated at the lack of respect being shown for the Pac-12 conference. An upset win over an angry Ohio State team would go a long way in boosting the conference’s image heading into 2018.
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