The Northwestern Wildcats take on the Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday 12/1/18 at the Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis for this season’s installment of the Big 10 title game.
Just last month, both teams didn’t appear to be headed to the title game. The Wildcats lost to Michigan while the Buckeyes were beaten by Purdue. But after those slip-ups, both teams won out and now will face each other in the Big 10’s big game.
The Northwestern Wildcats suffered non-conference losses to Akron, Duke and Notre Dame but after claiming the West Division title, they will be making their first ever appearance in a Big 10 championship game. The Wildcats pulled off some notable upsets this season, beating Michigan State and Iowa while being double digit underdogs. Northwestern has won nine straight road games heading to this contest.
While the Wildcats can proudly say defense got them here, they can’t talk much about their offense which is only ranked 108th in the nation in scoring offense. Gaining yards on the field isn’t also a strength of this team and with top receiver Flynn Nigel listed as questionable for Saturday’s Big 10 title game, quarterback Clayton Thorson will have a harder time in his matchup with Haskins.
The Ohio State Buckeyes kept their hopes for a National Playoff spot alive with arguably their best performance of the season last week. Ohio State was not expected to beat Michigan but the Buckeyes claimed the East Division championship by mauling the Wolverines 62-39. Quarterback Dwayne Haskins torched the Wolverines’ top rated defense, throwing for 396 passing yards with six touchdowns and 62 points scored in the game.
Haskins is having the best season ever by an Ohio State quarterback. Haskins set single season school records for pass attempts (455), completions (314), passing touchdowns (42), passing yards (4,082), completion percentage (69%) and total offensive yards (4,130). Haskins also finished second to Gardner Minshew in total passing yards this season. Likewise, Haskins 42 touchdowns and 4,082 passing yards are new Big 10 records.
Northwestern is 7-1 SU in their last 8 games played while Ohio State is 16-1 SU in their last 17 games overall. Head to head, the Buckeyes are 5-0 SU in their last five meetings against the Wildcats. The Buckeyes have won 9 out of the last 10 meetings between these two teams including the last six games.
Northwestern wins with a defense that is ranked 29th in the nation in points allowed and 49th in total defense. They have allowed just a total of 40 points in their last three games and their secondary is expecting injured key players to return and suit up for the Big 10 championship game on Saturday.
But good as their defense is, the Wildcats have not faced a quarterback at talented as Haskins. This is only Haskins’ first season as starter but he’s putting up ridiculous numbers that has made him instantly one of the elite quarterbacks in the nation. I think he will be the difference maker in this game.
This is the first ever Big 10 title game for Northwestern but many of the players on Ohio State’s roster were here last season playing in the same venue and for the same stakes. While the Wildcats can be proud to say they made it to this title game, Ohio State has a spot in the National Playoff in mind. Ohio State though would need a big win plus some help from Alabama and Texas to sneak in to the playoff. No question, both teams would love to win the Big 10 title but the Buckeyes have bigger motives than the Wildcats. We’re picking the Ohio State Buckeyes to beat the Northwestern Wildcats on 12/1/18 and win the Big 10 title.
The Wildcats are 15-7-1 ATS in their last 23 games played and the Buckeyes are 5-7 ATS in 12 games played this season and 2-6 ATS in their last eight games played. Head to head, Ohio State is 5-1 ATS in their last 6 games versus Northwestern and 6-3-1 ATS in their last 10 games against each other.
Northwestern is 0-6 SU and 1-5 ATS in their last six games against Ohio State and they lost by an average losing margin of 30.83 points per game. As we said above, the Buckeyes need a big win here plus some help from the Crimson Tide and Longhorns to sneak into the Playoff. Don’t expect Urban Meyer to take it easy after taking a comfortable lead. The Buckeyes are going all out here. Prediction: Ohio State -14
The total has gone under in four out of the last six games for Northwestern. The total has gone under in 4 out of the 7 home games played by Ohio State this season. Head to head, the over is 4-1 in the last five meetings between Northwestern and Ohio State.
Putting points on the board has never been a problem for the Buckeyes with Dwayne Haskins at quarterback. The Buckeyes rank 7th in the nation in scoring at 43.3 points per game. With Northwestern owning only the 79th best pass defense in the nation, It’s going to be a big scoring night.Prediction: Over 60.5
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