Vegas Big Ten Predictions Week 9: Every Game Matters

Saturday Blitz Vegas Big Ten Predictions Week 9

No. 13 Ohio State Buckeyes at Penn State Nittany Lions

Line: Ohio State by 13.5

The Ohio State Buckeyes appear to have found their groove after an early season loss to Virginia Tech, and now they’re blowing teams out the way we expected them to. J.T. Barrett is playing at a level on par with what Braxton Miller was expected to do, and the secondary has surprisingly stepped up and matched the rest of the defense. So what’s the formula against Penn State? Keep doing the same thing on the road against a Nittany Lions team that has struggle recently. And since Penn State has been good at capitalizing off turnovers this year, that should be the one thing Ohio State needs to avoid at all costs.

And it’s the one thing Penn State should focus on. Urban Meyer’s spread offense is still prone to mistakes with a first-year starter in it, and James Franklin and the Nittany Lions should do everything they can to force them. That’s their only chance of winning. And it’s only a slight chance unless they can do some things on offense. Christian Hackenberg has shown he can play, but he continuously fails to finish drives. That can’t happen against Ohio State, and he’s got to find a way to make the secondary look as weak as it once was. The Nittany Lions are in a bad slide right now and if those things don’t happen, times will only get tougher.

Prediction

Ohio State will have no trouble picking apart this Penn State team. The Buckeyes will dominate the Nittany Lions’ defense, and Hackenberg will have trouble all night. In the end, with the way Barrett is playing right now, we aren’t going to bet against Meyer’s guys. We trust them to come out with a win.

Ohio State: 45 Penn State: 21