The Ohio State Buckeyes travel to Madison to throw down with their Big-10 Conference rivals the Wisconsin Badgers. The contest is slated to start Saturday, October 15th at 8:00 p.m. ET and will be televised on the ABC Network. ESPN’s College GameDay will be in town for the grudge-match.
The Buckeyes are -10.5 point favorite and the over/under is set at 44. This will be the first time since 1954 that both teams will be squaring-off while ranked inside the top 10. Furthermore, the Buckeyes are 19-0 in their last 19 true road games under Urban Myer.
The start to the Badger’s Big Ten schedule couldn’t be any more difficult. They traveled to face Michigan State, then headed into Ann Arbour to face Michigan. Now, after a weeks rest, they welcome in the #2 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes.
The Buckeyes made quick work of the Indiana Hoosiers last Saturday, gliding away with a 38-17. J.T. Barrett only had 93 yards passing with a pick. The running game and the defense has been lights out for Ohio State this season.
#2 Ohio State (5-0):
J.T. Barrett displayed his ability to run the football, by rushing for 137 yards and moving the chains on some key third downs. Throwing the ball, Barrett has compiled just under 1,000 yards on 79 attempts with an impressive 15 touchdowns and only three interceptions.
Mike Weber and Curtis Samuel have handled the running duties out of the back field for Urban Myer’s offense. Together, they have contributed over 120 carries for just under 1,000 yards and seven touchdowns. Now, throw in J.T. Barrett’s 70 carries for another 342 yards and four scores and you have quite the productive unit.
The receiving corps has fallen off a bit as far as accumulating yardage, but have found their way to pay-dirt plenty of times in 2016. Running back Curtis Samuel leads the Buckeyes in receptions catching 23 balls for almost 350 yards and three touchdowns. Dontre Wilson and Noah Brown have tallied 27 more catches for over 350 yards and nine more touchdown grabs.
The Buckeye’s defense is one of the best squads in the nation. Only the Sooners have managed to gain over 300 yards on them and they have created an impressive 13 turnovers. They also rank second in the country in scoring defense allowing 10.8 points per game. Only their hated rivals Michigan Wolverines, are better at 10.3.
#10 Wisconsin Badgers (4-1):
A feisty Michigan defense shut-down Wisconsin and beat the Badgers 14-7 two weeks ago. Hornibrook served-up three interceptions in his second start since taking over for Bart Houston and finished just 9-of-25. As a whole, Hornibrook has completed just under 40 balls for 466 yards and has four touchdowns and five picks.
Running back Corey Clement handles most of the duties when Wisconsin looks to get their ground game going. Clement has toted the rock 82 times in 2016, totaling 319 yards and five scores. The talented back has posted these marginal numbers against some of the best defenses in the FBS.
Three Badger receivers continue to catch the majority of the balls thrown to them by Wisconsin’s signal-callers. The trio has gained over 700 yards on just over 50 catches and only two touchdowns.
The Badgers defense is as solid as a coach could hope for. Yes, they did allow 349 yards against Michigan, but that was their most on the season. The Wisconsin defense ranks sixth against the run allowing only 90.4 yards a game. They also rank fourth in the country, giving way to only 12.2 points a contest. Line backer Vince Biegel will once again sit out this contest with a foot injury.
Trends and Notes:
The Buckeyes are 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games overall.
The Badgers are 6-1 ATS in their last 7 games overall.
The Under is 7-1 in the Buckeyes last 8 conference games.
The Under is 8-2 in the Badgers last 10 home games.
The Underdog is 4-0-1 ATS in their last 5 meetings.
Game Prediction:
A battle-tested Badger squad will look to pull off the upset at home this Saturday night. While shaky at times, Wisconsin still holds a 4-1 record with their lone defeat two weeks ago against a stout Wolverine team. Ohio State will look to continue their march to the College Football Playoffs, looking to make Wisconsin their seventh straight victory of the 2016 season.
The Badgers have struggled to move the ball efficiently through their five ball games and will need to keep the Ohio state front seven honest, mixing up the run and the pass. Corey Clement need to move the chains and keep Ohio state’s duel-threat signal-caller on the side lines.
The Buckeyes love to run the ball and gouge teams with their play-action when the opposing teams back-half moves up to support the run. Wisconsin’s strength is their ability to stop the run with their front seven, so something has got to give.
Ohio State is the better offense and both defenses are a wash, so the Badgers will need to have their best offensive effort of the season this weekend. That being said, they need to accomplish this against one of the nations best defenses. Our round table discussion at Get More Sports leads us to believe that will not be the case Saturday night. Take the under 44, in a defensive slobber-knocker.
Swing in to getmoresports.com to get all the inside info you will need on plenty of other important match-ups this weekend.
