Betting Line: Ohio State -31.5 | O/U 55.5
After failing to cover (or at least push) on the spread for the first time this season last week thanks to a backdoor cover by Purdue, Ohio State was back to its covering ways on Saturday with a 48-10
win over UCLA. The Buckeyes are now 8-1-1 against the spread this year, joining Texas Tech (10-1) as the two best teams ATS in college football.
Ohio State is now faced with an identical opening line to that of a week ago, as the Buckeyes are once again greater than a 30-point favorite with Rutgers coming to town for the final regular season game at Ohio Stadium.
The Scarlet Knights are still fighting for bowl eligibility, sitting at 5-5 on this season with two games remaining against Ohio State and Penn State. Rutgers lost each of its first four games against Big Ten opponents this year before picking up a win over Purdue, followed by splitting the next two with a loss to Illinois and a win over Maryland last time out before sitting idle this past weekend.
Rutgers is led offensively by senior quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis, who transferred to Piscataway after spending his first two years at Minnesota. Kaliakmanis is having his most productive season to date, throwing for a career-high 2,705 yards with 17 touchdowns and seven interceptions.
The Scarlet Knights’ passing game, which quietly ranks No. 22 nationally, boasts a trio of 500-plus-yard receivers, led by sophomore KJ Duff’s 53 catches for 923 yards and six touchdowns. Behind him, Ian Strong has hauled in 48 passes for 716 yards and five touchdowns, while Washington State and North Texas transfer DT Sheffield adds 532 yards on 40 receptions with four scores.
Rutgers also features a 1,000-yard rusher in Antwan Raymond. The sophomore has an atheistically pleasing stat line of exactly 200 carries for exactly 1,000 yards on the season, and has found the end zone 11 times. Raymond also adds 15 catches for 163 yards and a touchdown through the air. Despite his individual success, the Scarlet Knights as a team rank 86th nationally in rushing offense at 143 yards per game.
Defense has been where Rutgers has really hit a snag this year, as the Knights rank 107th in FBS allowing 30 points per game. The passing defense has been poor, ranking 84th nationally allowing 229 passing yards per game, and the rushing defense has somehow been even worse, ranking 125th nationally allowing almost 200 rushing yards per contest.
There are still a few standout players on this defense, most notably defensive back Jett Elad and defensive lineman Eric O’Neill. Elad, a UNLV transfer, leads the team with 62 total tackles to go along with 2.5 tackle for loss as well as a team-high two interceptions. O’Neill has tallied by far a team-best 7.5 tackles for loss, and is tied with fellow defensive lineman Bradley Weaver with 2.5 sacks on the year.
The big question for Ohio State in this game is health. Wide receiver Carnell Tate has missed each of the last two games, and Jeremiah Smith played sparingly against UCLA and appeared to be limping around on the sideline pretty heavily towards the end of the game. The Buckeyes have also been without rotational right guard Josh Padilla for the past two games, and running back CJ Donaldson did not play against the Bruins.
It remains to be seen whether either of Smith or Tate will be available against Rutgers. Even if one or both of them are healthy enough to play, the Buckeyes may hold them out in preparation for Michigan. Day said prior to the Purdue game that the hope was to have Padilla back for this week against Rutgers, so we will have to see how Ohio State’s offensive line shakes out as well.
That said, the Buckeyes still have more than enough talent around those guys to get the job done. Hopefully they can get Julian Sayin out of this game early and get as many players some much-needed rest as possible before that trip to Ann Arbor on Nov. 29.
All lines and odds are presented by FanDuel Sportsbook.
