CFB Betting – Indiana Hoosiers at Ohio State Buckeyes

It’s been such a strange year why not make the game between the Indiana Hoosiers and Ohio State Buckeyes a showdown for the top spot in the Big Ten East. Of course everybody expected the Buckeyes to be in this position battling for a berth in the College Football Playoff as well. They haven’t disappointed throttling their opponents en route to a perfect 3-0 start. At 4-0 Indiana cracked the top-10 in the AP poll at No. 9 this week setting up the first top-10 matchup in program history. Oddsmakers don’t expect the Hoosiers to put up much of a fight installing OSU as a three-touchdown favorite.  Bookmaker.eu offers a generous welcome bonus (max bonus $1600).

Indiana Hoosiers at Ohio State Buckeyes
Date and Time: Saturday, November 21, 2020, 12 p.m. ET
Location: Ohio Stadium, Columbus, OH
CFB Odds: Ohio State -20, O/U 65
Indiana at Ohio State TV Coverage: FOX

Odds Analysis

Winning games and vying for conference titles and national championships is nothing new for Ohio State, which is why they are positioned as a big 20-point home favorite for this showdown. Playing against large spreads is also a common occurrence. If the line holds it will be the third time in four games the Buckeyes were favored by at least 20 points. The exception was against Penn State when OSU covered the 10-point spread in a 38-25 win. The Buckeyes are 2-1 ATS after failing to cover in last week’s win over Rutgers. Indiana has been a solid wager this season going 4-0 ATS, though they haven’t received much support for this game. A majority of the action pushed the line up from its opening +19.5. The total sits at 65, the highest in any IU game this season.

Indiana Hoosiers

This might be the best chance Indiana has had in years of beating the Buckeyes. That’s something that hasn’t happened since 1988, yes, 1988 is the last time the Hoosiers won a game over OSU. It’s understandable since IU is known more as a basketball school, but this group is doing a fine job of changing things. Shutting out Michigan State 24-0 last week was the first time ever the Hoosiers beat the Spartans, Michigan and Penn State in the same season.

Led by Michael Penix Jr. the offense is doing enough and the defense has come up large. After scoring at least 36 points in each of their first three games and averaging 37 points over that span, the Hoosiers dipped a bit last week in their shutout of Michigan State. It’s hard not to like this group with Penix supplying the signature moment so far with his dart to the pylon on a game-winning 2-point conversion in overtime against Penn State. The Hoosiers took off from there.

Chances to score may be limited against the Buckeyes so converting on red zone trips is important. And that’s an area that has suffered. The Hoosiers have just 14 touchdowns on 23 trips inside the red area and their score percentage of 82.6 ranks 72nd in the FBS. IU will have to be on its game defensively against the explosive Justin Fields. The Hoosiers held Michigan State to 191 total yards and rank among the top-20 nationally in fewest points and yards allowed.

Ohio State Buckeyes

The delayed start to the season put Ohio State in a hole for national attention against other top-tier programs. The cancellation of last week’s game with Maryland also didn’t help. The Buckeyes need games and they need wins. More importantly they need convincing wins against quality opponents. The matchup with Indiana wasn’t in that category initially, but the surprising Hoosiers have crashed the party entering the top-10 of the national rankings. That’s exactly what OSU needed. Now they have to take care of business.

With Justin Fields leading the way the offense has been as advertised. Fields has thrown for 908 yards and 11 touchdowns in three games with an additional 57 yards and two scores on the ground. It’s a small sample size but the Buckeyes are averaging a whopping 511.3 yards and 46.3 points per game. Master Teague and Trey Sermon are a nice 1-2 punch out of the backfield combining for 383 yards.

We haven’t seen the typical stout defense we’ve become accustomed to in Columbus over the years. Fields has masked some of the issues with his play, but the Buckeyes have surrendered a total of 52 points in the last two games. They give up an average of 355 yards with part of the blame on OSU’s huge leads and a number of different players taking snaps. We’ll get a better idea of how good the defense is against IU.

Bet Indiana at Ohio State at BookMaker.eu

Despite their unbeaten start and top-10 ranking, many in the IU program feel the respect is still lacking. Count the oddsmakers among them. That only leads to the us against them mentality which will come into play on Saturday. Beating Ohio State is a longshot, but taking the visitors and 20-points looks like a good play.

CFB Score Prediction: Ohio State 35, Indiana 24

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- Phil Simon, Gambling911.com