Is Ohio State football favored over Missouri in the Cotton Bowl? College betting lines

COLUMBUS, Ohio — Ohio State football opened as the betting favorite to end its season with a victory over Missouri in the Cotton Bowl.

Draft Kings set an opening line with the Buckeyes favored by 6.5 points for the Dec. 29th game. This will be the 13th time the teams have played, but first since 1998.

Missouri is 3-2 against the spread as an underdog this season and 8-4 against the spread overall. Ohio State is 6-4-2 agains the spread overall and was favored by at least three points in all of those games except the regular-season finale at Michigan.

Ohio State is 2-4 against the spread in all postseason games under Ryan Day. Only once in that stretch were the Buckeyes favored — a 29-23 loss to Clemson in a 2019 Fiesta Bowl playoff semifinal.

Missouri has qualified for a bowl in each season under coach Eli Drinkwitz but seeks its first victory. It beat the spread as a 7-point underdog to Army in the 2021 Armed Forces Bowl (24-22) but failed to cover as a 2.5-point underdog to Wake Forest in the Gasparilla Bowl (27-17).

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