Who you got? LGHL staff predicts the score of Ohio State-Michigan

This season, the LGHL staff is competing to see who is the best prognosticator!

By Matt Tamanini and Land-Grant Holy Land Staff Nov 24, 2018, 6:31am EST

Well, it’s all come down to this. As it should be, today’s matchup between No. 4 Michigan and No. 10 Ohio State will determine the East division’s representative in the Big Ten Championship Game next week, and the winners’ hopes for a College Football Playoff will remain alive.

Ohio State has won all six of Urban Meyer’s rivalry games, and hasn’t dropped a home game in this series since the Clinton administration. However, the Wolverines come into today’s game as the top-rated defense in the country, while OSU has the second-best passing attack. Something will have to give when the two teams kick it off at 12 noon ET on FOX.

Over the course of this season, we here at Land-Grant Holy Land are competing to see who the best prognosticator is on staff.

How this is working is that every week our writers and editors will predict what think the final score of the Ohio State game will be. If a forecaster foresees the game’s correct winner, he or she will receive 75 points. If the expert gets the score exactly right, they will receive a bonus 25 points. However, for every point that a prediction is off, one point will be subtracted—with a max total of 25 points getting subtracted. Get it? Got it? Good.

With every new week of predictions, we will update the standings, so that you can follow along and see who the best handicapper on the LGHL staff is. Current standings are below this week’s predictions.

Matt Brown

TTUN 30, Ohio State 22
Season Point Total: 669 | Place: 1 out of 13

(He’s THE Matt Brown, he doesn’t need to give an explanation.)

Alexis Chassen

Ohio State 24, TTUN 21
Season Point Total: 535 | Place: 11 out of 13

Buckeyes, because I’m a gluten for punishment, and also because I think somehow, someway this team finishes the regular season on a high note!

Colton Denning

TTUN 27, Ohio State 23
Season Point Total: 537 | Place: 9 out of 13

On Thursday’s episode of The Hangout in the Holy Land, Colton said emotion will define this game. He admits that Ohio State doesn’t match up in terms of the stats, but he believes that Dwayne Haskins will make plays and score against Michigan’s defense. However, he is worried about the defense.

Geoff Hammersley

TTUN 50, Ohio State 34
Season Point Total: 628 | Place: 3 out of 13

Michigan does more of what Penn State did to Ohio State in terms of defense. Buckeyes, again, start off slow before finding the goldmine in bubble screens. Shea Patterson is the first real QB OSU has faced since Penn State, and is gonna have a field day in the air.

Dwayne Haskins will also do damage, too. He hasn’t been stopped all season, and I have no reason to believe that he’ll be stopped by the “vaunted” UM defense. A slow start will be the bugaboo for the Bucks.

Dan Hessler

Ohio State 34, TTUN 28
Season Point Total: 541 | Place: 8 out of 13

That team up north has the ball with under a minute to go and down 6 and Ohio State’s defense stops them when it matters most.

Meredith Hein

Ohio State 31, TTUN 24
Season Point Total: 604 | Place: 4 out of 13

Because... I have no reason, just faith. Go Bucks.

Caleb Houser

Ohio State 28, TTUN 24
Season Point Total: 591 | Place: 5 out of 13

Ohio State and QB Dwayne Haskins hold off the Michigan Wolverines to keep their streak alive against TTUN.

Haskins throws for 2 TDs to Terry McLaurin and Johnnie Dixon. The RBs J.K. Dobbins and Mike Weber each score once.

The defense starts off strong against the Wolverines and despite a late effort, Ohio State is able to fend off the fighting khaki’s and win the Big Ten East.

Max Littman

TTUN 38, Ohio State 28
Season Point Total: 556 | Place: 7 out of 13

All good things have to come to an end right? With an OSU defense this bad, it seems like this streak is over.

Brett Ludwiczak

Ohio State 31, TTUN 27
Season Point Total: 580 | Place: 6 out of 13

This is definitely a homer pick, but I like Meyer and the Buckeyes to continue their mastery of the Wolverines. If you’ve seen my tweets, it is no secret I’ve seen enough of Meyer and this coaching staff, but if there was one game I’d bank on them to put everything together, it would be this game.

Not only is this game important from a rivalry standpoint, but a win by the Buckeyes knocks Michigan out of the Big Ten Championship Game and the College Football Playoff. Ohio State certainly won’t be lacking for motivation in this one, and they’ll come out sharp. The Wolverines haven’t won in Columbus since 2000, and on Saturday the Buckeyes will ensure that that streak lasts until at least 2020.

Patrick Mayhorn

TTUN 38, Ohio State 27
Season Point Total: 644 | Place: 2 out of 13

The Buckeyes are thoroughly outplayed buy a superior team, and the staff is out-coached by much better coaches. A late Ohio State touchdown makes the final score respectable, but the offense never gets going and the defense is gashed all day in an embarrassing loss.

Tony Mazziotti

Ohio State 32, TTUN 29

I think Michigan has a better first quarter and Ohio State has a better second. The rest will be chaotic but OSU finds a way.

Matt Tamanini

Ohio State 35, TTUN 31
Season Point Total: 531 | Place: 12 out of 13

I think that Ohio State has a legitimate path to victory. If they play call to the pass-first strengths of the offense, and scheme to prevent giving up obscenely long plays on defense, I think that they have the talent on the field to win.

If I had to put money on it (which I don’t), I’d say that Michigan’s offense will more or less score at will, and while the Buckeye offense will get its share of yards and points, I don’t think that they will be able to keep up with the points that their defense allows.

So, while the logical side of my brain is saying, “Michigan 38, Ohio State 24,” the fan side is saying “Buckeyes 35, That Team Up North 31.” When I did a Q&A with M*ch*g*n blog Maize ‘n’ Brew, I went with the logical side, but that was yesterday, and today is game day, and I’m out of contention anyway. So, give me the Buckeyes!

Dan Vest

Ohio State 100, TTUN 3
Season Point Total: 536 | Place: 10 out of 13

Listen, I’m way out of contention here, so I can do as I please here. Dwayne Haskins throws for 10 touchdowns and Michigan kicks a long field goal as time expires to break the shutout.

Ok, after 11 games, let’s take a look as to how our staff’s picks are looking.

LGHL Predictions Scoreboard

Place	LGHL Staff	Total Points	B1G Points	TTUN Points	Maryland Points	Mich. St. Points	Nebraska Points	Purdue Points	Minnesota Points	Indiana Points	Penn State Points	Tulane Points	TCU Points	Rutgers Points	Oregon St. Points
Place	LGHL Staff	Total Points	B1G Points	TTUN Points	Maryland Points	Mich. St. Points	Nebraska Points	Purdue Points	Minnesota Points	Indiana Points	Penn State Points	Tulane Points	TCU Points	Rutgers Points	Oregon St. Points
1	Matt Brown	723	54	0	50	73	70	71	64	48	58	64	61	60	50
2	Meredith Hein	715	61	50	50	62	69	0	56	66	61	54	62	74	50
4	Caleb Houser	712	71	50	50	55	71	0	50	62	66	65	55	67	50
5	Brett Ludwiczak	704	74	50	50	54	68	0	50	61	59	61	62	65	50
6	Geoff Hammersley	703	75	0	50	62	73	72	64	64	0	64	74	55	50
7	Patrick Mayhorn	695	51	0	50	69	63	64	60	69	50	44	64	61	50
8	Dan Vest	673	64	73	50	0	70	0	62	58	63	58	61	64	50
9	Dan Hassler	662	71	50	50	50	53	0	58	55	57	51	65	52	50
10	Alexis Chassen	656	71	50	50	50	65	0	54	60	50	52	52	52	50
11	Matt Tamanini	642	61	50	50	0	67	0	56	59	61	59	72	57	50
12	Max Littman	628	72	0	50	55	60	0	58	41	62	57	56	67	50
13	Colton Denning	604	67	0	50	0	60	0	59	62	56	68	68	64	50
13	Chad Peltier	578	54	0	50	0	66	0	60	66	55	54	73	50	50

So, to recap our oddly overly complicated scoring system:

Correct Winner Prediction: 75 points
Perfect Prediction Bonus: 25 points
Point Total Deductions: Subtract 1 point for every point off total score (cap 25 points)