Penn State Nittany Lions at Ohio State Buckeyes Betting Preview

The Ohio State Buckeyes will host the Penn State Nittany Lions under the lights at Ohio Stadium for a Top 25 showdown on Saturday at 7:30 p.m. EST on ABC. The No. 5 Buckeyes come into this game-winning five straight to bring their record to 6-1. No. 20 Penn State is coming off an overtime loss to Illinois which brought them to 5-2.

Ohio State went into Bloomington last weekend and put on a clinic scoring 54 points and limiting the Hoosiers to only seven. Penn State lost a heartbreaker to Illinois 20-18 in a game that went into nine overtimes. They will be looking for revenge on Saturday night against one of their Big Ten rivals.

Odds

The Buckeyes are 18.5 point favorites with odds of -110 to cover. Penn State has the same odds of -110 at +18.5. The over/under for the game is set at 59.5 with odds of -115 to bet the over and -105 to bet the under.

What Ohio State Needs to Do to Win

The Buckeyes need to continue doing what they have been doing on both sides of the ball in the past month to win this game. They are blooming at the perfect time and need to continue that momentum as they face some of their toughest opponents of the year starting with Penn State.

CJ Stroud played lights out against the Hoosiers throwing for 266 yards with four touchdowns and no interceptions. TreVeyon Henderson added two touchdowns on the ground. The Buckeyes defense, which has been a work in progress, got to the quarterback for five sacks and only gave up one touchdown.

The Buckeyes have won each of their past four games by 39 points or more.

What Penn State Needs to Do to Win

Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford was coming off an injury last week, and it showed. He only threw for 165 yards and one touchdown on 19 of 34 passing. That is not his usual stat line and Penn State will need him to play very well to stay in this game. Jahan Dotson is his go-to target, and that connection will need to be in full force to put pressure on the Buckeyes.

This should be an interesting matchup for a Penn State defense who ranks sixth nationally in opponent yards per play going up against the number one offense in yards per play. If they can limit the big play, then they will give themselves a good chance to win on the road and destroy all hopes for the Buckeyes to make the Playoff.

Expected Outcome

This game has the possibility of being close or for the Buckeyes to make a statement and win big. I think it will be the former and that the Penn State defense will come out hungry after the frustrating loss to Illinois.

This Buckeyes offense will be too much for the defense to handle, but I expect the game will be closer than 18.5