River City Sharps
After an early season loss to Virginia Tech, Urban Meyer and the Ohio State Buckeyes have found themselves on a serious roll headed into their Saturday night tilt with Penn State in Happy Valley. The offense has been running high octane for these Buckeyes as they have scored 50 or more points in four consecutive games and outscored their opponents 224-69 during this four game winning streak. The Nittany Lions find themselves in a transition period under first year HC James Franklin and got a badly needed bye week last week. That bye was badly needed because in the previous two games, PSU dropped decisions to both Northwestern and Michigan, certainly not top-tier teams in the Big 10. Franklin and Penn State are certainly hoping not to repeat the results of last year’s game, a 63-14 rout by Ohio State and the worst loss in Penn State's history. The Buckeyes have won their last three trips to Penn State and seven of the last nine meetings overall. This really appears to be a bad matchup for the home team, mainly due to the really effective pass rush of Ohio State and Penn State’s clear inability to protect QB Christian Hackenberg. We expect the Buckeyes to dial up lots of pressure on the PSU QB throughout the day and force him into some quick throws. The Penn State offense has been less than stellar, averaging just 21.2 ppg this season, while the Buckeyes are scoring 46.5 ppg. The Buckeyes are a solid 9-3-1 ATS in their last 13 games following an ATS win and the Nittany Lions have struggled in conference, going 1-4 ATS in their last five conference games. We just don’t see Penn State being able to score enough points to keep up with Barrett and the Buckeyes offense. The Sharps say…
3 UNITS – OHIO STATE -13.5
After an early season loss to Virginia Tech, Urban Meyer and the Ohio State Buckeyes have found themselves on a serious roll headed into their Saturday night tilt with Penn State in Happy Valley. The offense has been running high octane for these Buckeyes as they have scored 50 or more points in four consecutive games and outscored their opponents 224-69 during this four game winning streak. The Nittany Lions find themselves in a transition period under first year HC James Franklin and got a badly needed bye week last week. That bye was badly needed because in the previous two games, PSU dropped decisions to both Northwestern and Michigan, certainly not top-tier teams in the Big 10. Franklin and Penn State are certainly hoping not to repeat the results of last year’s game, a 63-14 rout by Ohio State and the worst loss in Penn State's history. The Buckeyes have won their last three trips to Penn State and seven of the last nine meetings overall. This really appears to be a bad matchup for the home team, mainly due to the really effective pass rush of Ohio State and Penn State’s clear inability to protect QB Christian Hackenberg. We expect the Buckeyes to dial up lots of pressure on the PSU QB throughout the day and force him into some quick throws. The Penn State offense has been less than stellar, averaging just 21.2 ppg this season, while the Buckeyes are scoring 46.5 ppg. The Buckeyes are a solid 9-3-1 ATS in their last 13 games following an ATS win and the Nittany Lions have struggled in conference, going 1-4 ATS in their last five conference games. We just don’t see Penn State being able to score enough points to keep up with Barrett and the Buckeyes offense. The Sharps say…
3 UNITS – OHIO STATE -13.5
