What is the early Penn State-Ohio State spread and total?
Penn State and Ohio State both have opponents to take care of this weekend before turning their full attention to next weekend’s likely top-five matchup at Beaver Stadium. The Nittany Lions are a 6.5-point favorite for Saturday night’s 7:30 p.m. ET kick at Wisconsin (5-2 on NBC. This writer thinks the ‘trap game’ concerns are being overblown by many fans. But, there is no question that head coach James Franklin’s team will need to be at its best to score its third road victory of the season while improving to 7-0.
“I coached in that state. I was with the Packers,” said Franklin. “They’re going to be eating cheese curds, drinking beer, and brats all day long. The place will be rocking. Obviously, we’ll get to the fourth quarter, “Jump Around.” I showed that to the guys today. So handling that environment will be really important. I think that’s number one.”
The Buckeyes, meanwhile, are coming off a bye week of their own after losing a close one at Oregon in a marquee matchup two weeks ago. They now return home to shake that setback off when they host Nebraska as a 25.5-point favorite on Saturday. That game is set for Noon on FOX.
More: 3-2-1: Penn State seeking fast start, situational football strength at Wisconsin
“Because we had a bye week, we were able to spend a few more days chewing on and identifying some of the things that we’ve got to get addressed and fixed,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. “But then once we got out here on Wednesday [last week], it was time to move on, and time to do exactly that. And you know, this is about us. It’s not about all the other people across the country, and we feel like, you know, we’re in control of our future and that’s it.”
“For us, we are in control of what happens moving forward. So that part of it gives guys a purpose, obviously, when they get out there, and could redirect their energy forward and not backward.”
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What is the early Penn State-Ohio State spread?
This number has remained pretty consistent throughout the year. FanDuel calls Ohio State a 3.5-point favorite for the Noon ET tilt on FOX. The early total is 49.5 points. For what it’s worth, Bill Connelly’s SP+ metric at ESPN make OSU a 4.7-point favorite over PSU on a neutral field. Action Network gives Beaver Stadium/Penn State 3.4 points for home field advantaghe. That makes it virtually a pick’ em game that will help decide the pecking order for participation in the Big Ten title.
Entering the weekend, Ohio State sits at No. 4 in both major polls. Penn State is at No. 3. Each is coming out of a bye week. And, if both take care of business, a BIG game will officially be set for B1G Noon Kickoff on FOX.
“After, obviously, the game that we had down in Eugene, it was easy for a lot of people on the team to get down,” Ohio State receiver Emeka Egbuka said. “But being that it’s a 12-team playoff [now], and it’s a long, long season, and the top two teams in Big Ten go to the Big Ten championship — obviously it sucks to drop one like that on the road, big game, top-five matchups. But we have bigger goals than just winning a game on the road.
“We have goals for the entire season. So our plan is to make a huge run. We have games that we have to take care of coming up, and hopefully we’re able to see [the Ducks] again.”
