Buckeyes Roll into Saturday's Game as Massive Favorites Against Oregon

The Ohio State Buckeyes host the Oregon Ducks on Saturday inside the Horseshoe as they renew the budding rivalry that has become one of the best in the sport.

Since the expansion of the College Football Playoff, these two teams have found each other a couple of different times. They traded punches in the last two meetings with a Buckeyes loss out in Eugene before meeting up with them in the Rose Bowl and just absolutely beating the breaks off them.

That was a day that Buckeye fans will remember for the rest of their lives. 

Now, on Saturday, they welcome the Ducks back to Ohio for the first time since 2021 in a game that didn't go the way of the Buckeyes. 

Even with all of the happenings of the last three weeks for both teams, Vegas believes that this one is going to be fairly one-sided. 

Ohio State opens the week as massive favorites in this one against the Oregon Ducks. Vegas has this game set with the Buckeyes as 9.5-point favorites.

I do believe that this line is a little bit inflated, especially after last week. Ohio State proved that they have a lot of work to do as a football team. The reason that they lost last week had nothing to do with their freshman quarterback.

They struggled in nearly every single category. They were out-physicalled, significantly outcoached by Lincoln Riley, they had a horrible plan and they didn't execute anything at a level that is high enough to win. 

The Ducks, on the other hand, have struggled mightily. Vegas isn't putting much stock in their win over the Northwestern Wildcats. While they struggled all season for several different reasons, they put it all together in the second half against Northwestern and pulled away from the Wildcats.

One of the major things to consider is Oregon having to travel all the way across the country and play in a rowdy environment inside The 'Shoe.

It will be a massive challenge for Oregon to take down Ohio State, but if there was ever a time for them to do it, it would be now. The Buckeyes are wounded, and their backs are squarely against the wall. They are on the outside looking in for the College Football Playoff as it stands right now. 

They need to win out against what is a tough remaining schedule. There are four winnable games left on the calendar, but there are also four loseable games on the calendar. 

For Ohio State, they are at the point where they absolutely do not care about covering our scoring a bunch of points. The only thing that they care about is scoring one more poit than their opponent. Thats all that matters and Saturday will be their first test to end the year.