The high-powered No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes take on the battle-tested No. 21 Northwestern Wildcats on Saturday night in the 2018 Big Ten Championship Game. Kickoff is set for 8 p.m. ET at Lucas Oil Field in Indianapolis. With a win in the Big Ten Championship, Ohio State (11-1) hopes to lay claim to a coveted spot in the four-team College Football Playoffs for the third time in the past five seasons. The surprising Wildcats (8-4) dominated the West Division of the Big Ten, winning four games as substantial underdogs. They are looking for their first Big Ten Championship since they won a share of the title 18 years ago. The Buckeyes are 15.5-point sportsbook favorites in the latest Ohio State vs. Northwestern odds, with the over-under for total points scored set at 62. Before you lock in your Ohio State vs. Northwestern picks, be sure to check out what SportsLine data scientist Stephen Oh has to say.
Oh has had another winning season for SportsLine members in college football. What's more, he has had an especially keen eye for the tendencies of Ohio State, boasting a perfect 10-0 mark in against the spread picks involving the Buckeyes. Anyone who has followed him is way up.
Just last week, he advised SportsLine members that the Buckeyes (+5) would continue their dominance of the Wolverines and recommended a strong play on the home underdog. The result: Ohio State led wire-to-wire, and anyone who followed Oh's advice booked an easy winner.
Now, he has analyzed Northwestern vs. Ohio State in the Big Ten Championship 2018 from every possible angle and released a confident point-spread selection that's only available at SportsLine.
Dwayne Haskins had big shoes to fill when he arrived on campus as the heir apparent to program stalwart J.T. Barrett. But the highly touted recruit made an impact last year in his freshman season, filling in for an injured Barrett and performing well in key spots. He helped the Buckeyes win at Michigan by going 6-for-7 for 94 yards and added a couple crucial first-down runs.
This year, he has emerged as a legitimate Heisman contender and had the best performance of his college career last week against the Wolverines. Haskins threw for 396 yards and six touchdowns against zero interceptions. He has completed 69 percent of his passes for 4,081 yards and 42 touchdowns against seven interceptions for the season.
Ohio State will need another complete performance in order to cover against a Northwestern club that has thrived in the underdog role.
The Wildcats had modest projections and their outlook was bleak following a 1-3 start that included a 20-17 home loss to Michigan in which they dominated most of the way. However, they responded by winning seven straight Big Ten games to run away with the West Division by three games. Their Big Ten schedule included outright wins as underdogs against Purdue, Michigan State, Wisconsin and Iowa.
Northwestern has thrived with its signature formula of efficient offense, led by senior quarterback Clayton Thorson, and a gritty defense that has yielded fewer than 18 points to its last five conference opponents.
We can tell you Oh is leaning toward the Under, but his analytics have generated a much stronger play on the spread. He has crunched the numbers and discovered a crucial X-factor that makes one side of the spread a must-back. He's sharing what it is, and who to back, only at SportsLine.
Who covers in Ohio State vs. Northwestern? And what crucial X-factor causes one side of the spread to hit hard? Visit SportsLine right now to see which side you need to jump all over Saturday, all from a data scientist who's a blistering 10-0 on his picks involving the Buckeyes, and find out.
