The Wisconsin Badgers (10-2) and Ohio State Buckeyes (12-0) meet in Saturday’s Big Ten Championship Game at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis (8 p.m. ET). The Buckeyes head into the contest ranked No. 2 in the Amway Coaches Poll powered by USA Today Sports. Wisconsin is ranked 10th. We analyze the Wisconsin-Ohio State odds and betting lines, while providing college football betting tips and advice on this matchup.
Wisconsin vs. Ohio State: Three things you need to know
- Ohio State and Wisconsin are meeting for the second time this season. OSU took down the Badgers 38-7 Oct. 26. The Buckeyes held UW to nine first downs and 191 total yards. RB Jonathan Taylor had just 52 rushing yards.
- The “human-analytics” of Ohio State’s previous two seasons – and surprise disappointments in losses to Iowa and Purdue – color every part of what has been a tremendous season under first-year head coach Ryan Day (named Big Ten Coach of the Year earlier this week). A resolved and focused OSU squad leads the nation in scoring (49.9 points per game) while allowing just 11.8 PPG (fourth).
- Wisconsin has averaged 6.5 yards per play this season (19th in FBS). But the Badgers will need to throw the ball and convert on third downs. That’s something UW has struggled to do against top-25 foes.
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Wisconsin vs. Ohio State: Odds, betting lines and picks
Odds via BetMGM; access USA TODAY Sports’ betting odds for a full list. Lines last updated Thursday at 7:30 a.m. ET.
Prediction
Ohio State 45, Wisconsin 17
Moneyline (ML)
We’ll make a play on OHIO STATE -667 here. The implied win percentage with that figure is 87%. I’m calling for a profit cushion there of 6-7%.
New to sports betting? A $10 wager on Ohio State returns a profit of $1.50.
Against the Spread (ATS)
OHIO STATE (-15.5, -115) is a lean but the least productive of the three plays here, in my view.
Buckeyes QB Justin Fields makes for some risk after missing plays the last two games due to injury … not of OSU dropping the game, but perhaps he sits on a three-score lead and UW gets a late garbage-time score.
Over/Under (O/U)
The Under is 14-7 over the last 21 meetings between these two foes. This is not an autumnal gridiron slugfest in the elements, and the dome in Indy is a respite for Big Ten teams. The Over is 6-2 in this annual contest.
Even the prospect of a one-sided OSU victory is mitigated by the fact Ohio State can still score seven or eight times (and doing so can’t hurt the Buckeyes’ quest for a No. 1 seed). I liked the early-week number (54) a little more, but I’m still taking the OVER 56.5 (-106) here.
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