NCAAF: Buckeyes big dogs
The #5 Ohio State Buckeyes aren’t getting a lot of respect as they are 10.5-point dogs at the #1 USC Trojans Saturday night. Catch all of the Week 3 action at Sportsbook.com, your home for college football betting. Click here for the early lines, and see the best variety of game and future odds available anywhere.
Ohio State actually has the better record of the two teams the last two years plus, 25-3 versus 23-4 for USC.
The problem for Ohio State is they’ve been blown out of the NCCA title game the last two years, while USC has cruised to easy Rose Bowl wins. That’s given OSU a reputation of not being able to win the big one, a trend that must turnaround in Los Angeles this weekend.
For Ohio State to have a chance of pulling off the upset, they must get running back Chris Wells back. The Heisman Trophy candidate hurt his toe in the opening game against Youngstown State and they struggled to beat lowly Ohio without him last week.
Wells is expected to give it a go this week, but will they be able to match points with a Trojans’ offense that scored 52 points in their only game this year at Virginia on August 30th? Login in Sportsbook.com and give us your answer.
While the USC and Ohio State game is attracting the attention of the nation, that’s not the only marquee game on the Saturday docket. Second-ranked Georgia is out to prove they are the nation’s top team, and they have a tough test at South Carolina as seven-point favorites.
Steve Spurrier’s Gamecocks are coming off a very disappointing road loss to SEC foe Vanderbilt. That could make them even hungrier and more dangerous in this game, and you have to remember that South Carolina upset Georgia, 16 -12 on the road last year. Plus, the Gamecocks have covered three of the last four meetings overall.
An interesting non-conference matchup is Wisconsin (-1.5) points at Fresno State. At first blush, it might appear that the 10th ranked Badgers are getting little respect at that low a spread.
Dig a little deeper and you worry that the late 10:30 pm ET start could bother Wisconsin at the outset. Last year, the Badgers had to rally to beat UNLV 20-13, not coming close to covering the 25 ½-point spread. Fresno State (ranked #21) will need to slow down the Badgers running game, but they looked very good overall in an opening 24-7 at Rutgers on September 1st.
There’s also a Top 25 matchup on Friday night to start your week off. The Kansas Jayhawks out of the Big 12 are 3 ½-point dogs at the Big East’s South Florida Bulls.
These teams are not exactly traditional rivals, but they do have something in common as they try to prove they belong among the countries top teams. Note that #13 Kansas is 20-7 ATS in their last 27 overall games, while #19 South Florida is 9-2 ATS in their last 11 home games. Something surely has to give.
