Ohio State Football vs. Wisconsin Prediction, Odds, Spread and Over/Under for College Football Week 9

The Ohio State football team is riding high off a big win against Penn State. The 20-12 victory gives the Buckeyes the two best wins in college football so far this season. Yet, they still remain third in the polls behind Georgia and Michigan, neither of whom have beaten anyone good yet.

That’s of no concern to the Buckeyes this week. They have turned their attention to Wisconsin, a team that is on a bit of a slide compared to the last few years. They are 5-2 so far this season and had to make a furious comeback to beat Illinois last week to get to that mark.

Ohio State football vs. Wisconsin Odds, Spread, and Total

According to FanDuel, the Buckeyes are 14.5-point favorites over the Badgers. That makes sense considering Wisconsin just lost their starting quarterback a couple of weeks ago and their offense struggled mightily against a shoddy Illinois defense on Saturday.

The over/under for this game is just 43.5, which is pretty low for a college football game. As we saw on Saturday though, the Buckeyes can win games with their defense. First-year coach Luke Fickell, a former Buckeye, hasn’t figured out the identity of his team yet as the Buckeyes have.

Ohio State football vs. Wisconsin Key Players to Watch

For Ohio State, I’m watching whoever plays at running back. TreVeyon Henderson seems perpetually hurt so who knows when he’ll ever actually come back. Miyan Williams got the bulk of the work on Saturday and ran for just 62 yards on 24 carries.

Penn State has a good defense so rushing for just 1.9 yards a carry as a team isn’t a huge surprise. It’s still concerning considering that running the ball has been a huge problem for the Buckeyes all year long. That shouldn’t affect them against Wisconsin that much though.

For Wisconsin, the guy to watch is backup-now-starting quarterback Braedyn Locke. Locke, starting for the injured Tanner Mordecai, was anemic for the first three quarters against Illinois. Then, he got things rolling and through for 240 yards and 2 touchdowns.

Ohio State is surely going to load up on the run and force Locke to beat them through the air. His play is going to determine whether or not the Buckeyes have a chance to win on Saturday night in front of what should be a hostile crowd.

Ohio State football vs. Wisconsin Prediction

It’s early in the week, but I feel supremely confident in the Buckeyes. Jim Knowles has worked miracles on the defense and I trust them to win any game they play this season, especially against an offense that has a backup quarterback playing his first primetime game.

I think Ohio State’s offense will get rolling and the Badgers have no way to stop Marvin Harrison Jr. I don’t anticipate this game being close by the end. Give me the Buckeyes 27-7