The Game: 3 bold predictions for #2 Ohio State against #3 Michigan

Ohio State will cover the spread, win outright

It’ll be quite the ‘day’ for Ohio State head coach Ryan (Day) and his Buckeyes courtesy of the aforementioned predicted play by Maserati Marv and the anchored OSU defense.  Thanks as well to quality play from the likes of quarterback Kyle McCord and tailback TreVeyon Henderson, Ohio (State) will buck the recent trend in this rivalry.  Ryan Day’s men won’t only cover tomorrow’s +3.5 points spread (accurate as of Wednesday according to betMGM), but the Buckeyes will in fact beat Michigan outright in Ann Arbor.

According to ESPN, it’s the first time in five seasons that U of M is the betting favorite in this matchup of Big Ten stalwarts.

This is probably because the Maize and Blue have beaten the Scarlet and Grey in each of the past two meetings, although some well-documented extracurricular activities had taken place during that time period — ahem, the sign-stealing scandal.  However, prior to that, OSU had won 15 out of 16 games in the head-to-head series. Thus, many might argue that the last two score lines weren’t accurate portrayals of either side’s true quality.

With this cheating situation largely mitigated now, tomorrow’s performances should be as true in nature as it gets.  As such, a regression to the mean for both programs is likely.  In other words, Ohio State will be back to its winning ways in The Game, and Michigan will be losers once more.