There's a fairly sizable matchup on the docket in the Big Ten on Saturday. No. 5 Ohio State (5-1) travels to Bloomington to take on No. 4 Indiana (6-0) for what could end up being one of the most important and pivotal games impacting the College Football Playoff this year.
It's a collision between the last two national champions, and despite the Hoosiers owning a 22-game winning streak and being the higher-ranked team at home, the wise guys in Vegas have the Buckeyes as a marginal favorite. With any big game, we like to scour the internet for some predictions, but we also like to tap into ESPN's "matchup predictor" to see what it says about the potential winner of the game, and we figured, why not do it for this one too?
ESPN uses analytics to
determine the percentage chance of each team winning, and in this case, it's a razor-thin margin, with the Buckeyes owning a 52.1% chance of ending Indiana's massive win streak. In other words, it's almost a coin-flip, but with a slight edge going to the talent of Ohio State.
Ohio State updated ESPN game-by-game schedule predictions after Week 6
— Buckeyes Wire (@BuckeyesWire) October 13, 2026
📸 Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch, USA TODAY Network via Reuters Co https://t.co/xFmwjqZm48 pic.twitter.com/yzVGZE4b4t
Since these analytics are updated by game results only, there's no chance of this percentage changing, but as they say, the game must be played. In fact, Ohio State lost two games that the ESPN "matchup predictor" had it favored to win last year, so all of it depends on execution.
The game is set to kick off at Noon ET on Fox, and we'll have more on the game leading up to Saturday, and be around during and after as well for extensive coverage.
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This article originally appeared on Buckeyes Wire: ESPN predicts winner of Ohio State football vs. Indiana Saturday
