Rivalry week is upon us. Saturday features a jam-packed slate of college football action, including some rivalry matchups with major playoff implications. It is sure to be an eventful weekend, so why not sweeten the pot with some best bets? A pair of best bets that we are focusing on this week involve a couple of Big Ten matchups. The Ohio State Buckeyes head up north to face the Michigan Wolverines, while the Indiana Hoosiers head to West Lafayette to take on the Purdue Boilermakers.
Let’s break down each matchup along with the corresponding best bet.
Ohio State -8 (-110)
Ohio State has beat Michigan in 8 straight meetings and has won 5 of the past 6 meetings by double digits. They seem to have Michigan’s number, and they will be looking to keep that trend going in this year’s matchup as 8-point favorites. The Buckeye offense is absolutely loaded. They are leading the nation in yards per game (559.5) and points per game (47.2). Freshman QB CJ Stroud is right in the middle of the Heisman conversation, as he has thrown for almost 3,500 yards and 36 touchdowns this season while completing 71 percent of his passes. Additionally, the Buckeyes have the best receiving core in the country. Chris Olave, Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Garrett Wilson should be able to have success against Michigan’s secondary.
When Michigan is on offense, it seems likely that they opt to keep the ball on the ground in order to shorten the game and keep the Ohio State offense off the field. Michigan will have to play a perfect game to keep this one close. Ohio State is just on a different level and that will be apparent on Saturday. Expect Ohio State to cover.
Check out our full preview for Ohio State Buckeyes vs Michigan Wolverines.
Indiana/Purdue under 50.5 (-110)
Indiana hasn’t been good on defense this season by any stretch of the imagination, but they are on a nice little spurt here in one department. The Hoosiers have held each of their past 3 opponents to under 225 yards through the air while 2 of those teams failed to even break 200. With Purdue being such a pass-dominant bunch (9 games of 35+ pass attempts), Indiana has a chance to stop them from scoring their recently typical 30+ points.
The under holds a 5-3 record for Indiana in Big Ten contests this season including hitting in 2 of their last 3. It has also been pretty kind to this Boilermaker squad, posing a healthy 8-3 record for them in 2021. This game has the same feel as Purdue’s last one, facing a team with not much of a pulse offensively. The Hoosiers have struggled to score points for most of the season. Look for this in-state rivalry matchup to be of the lower-scoring variety.
Be sure to check out our full game preview for Indiana Hoosiers vs Purdue Boilermakers.
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