J.T. Barrett has served his one-game suspension for the Ohio State Buckeyes, and he's expected to be back in the saddle as their starting quarterback on Saturday for a potentially tricky trap game against the Illinois Fighting Illini.
College Football Odds at BookMaker.eu
Ohio State Buckeyes -17
Illinois Fighting Illini +17
Over/Under 51
ODDS ANALYSIS
The Buckeyes opened as the comfortable favorites in this game at -17, but we've certainly seen stranger things happen this season. OSU is already trending downward in the first 24 hours of betting action being open, as it has fallen to 16.5 against an Illinois team hungry to clinch up a spot in a bowl game.
The total debuted at 51 but has since been bet up to 54.5.
KEY MISMATCH
The Illini have had a lot of games this season in which they've been killed on the ground. They were outdone by 83 rushing yards by both Penn State and Wisconsin, and Iowa got them by a stunning 232 yards.
Sure, last week produced career days for both Josh Ferguson and Ke'Shawn Vaughn, but the two had combined for just one 100+ yard day before they both exploded against Purdue.
As a team, Illinois is averaging just 4.4 yards per carry this season, and though Ohio State's raw numbers don't look great at 138.7 rushing yards per game allowed, good luck running inside against Joey Bosa and the gang.
The Bucks have surrendered just 149 rushing yards in their last two games combined against Minnesota and Rutgers, and they have to be licking their chops at the prospects of going against this Illini rushing attack on Saturday afternoon.
KEY STAT
10 percent – The percentage of the time J.T. Barrett scores touchdowns on plays where he is asked to either throw the ball or run it for his career. That's an absolutely insane statistic for anyone in America, and it's why Urban Meyer wants to have him under center in this game. To put this in perspective, Cardale Jones is scoring touchdowns on 4.2 percent of his plays in which he has run or thrown the ball this year.
BETTING ANGLE
Illinois hasn't won a game in this series since 2007, and it hasn't fared much better against the spread either. This is at least a closer spread than we've seen these last three seasons when the Buckeyes were favored by 25, 34 and 28 points.
Ohio State won each game by at least 25, and the Fighting Illini can't take any solace in covering this fixture the last time these clubs met in Champaign in a 60-35 loss.
ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION
Illinois is a sneaky foe here for the Buckeyes, especially with those duels against Michigan State and Michigan waiting in the wings.
The Illini aren't going to win this game, but we could see Ohio State reverting back to the club which struggled mightily with Northern Illinois and Indiana at the outset of the year.
Wes Lunt is going to have to do a good job holding onto the NCAAF football, and he can't make all that many mistakes if Illinois is going to pose a challenge here. Vaughn and Ferguson won't be nearly as good as they were against Purdue, but if they can combine for 120 yards on the ground and give Lunt a little more time to stand in the pocket and pick out receivers, this could end up being a game right down to the wire.
Ohio State 34, Illinois 27
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