Ohio State opens as 15.5-point favorites over Nebraska

No. 5 Ohio State (7-1, 5-0) has rattled off six-straight wins after that head-scratching loss to Oregon in the second game of the season, and has largely looked like a different team in doing so. The Buckeyes will look to keep the good times rolling on Saturday, when they travel to Lincoln, Nebraska to take on the Cornhuskers (3-6, 1-5).

Ryan Day’s squad had won it’s previous four matchups by an average of nearly 47 points before battling it out with No. 20 Penn State in a 33-24 victory in their last time out. Following Ohio State’s early-season loss to the Ducks, Matt Barnes has taken over as the defensive play-caller, and there has been significant improvement on that side of the ball. The Silver Bullets have allowed an average of just 14.7 points per game since making the coaching chance. On offense, C.J. Stroud has been tremendous after taking the Akron game off to heal his injured shoulder, passing for over 1,300 yards with 15 touchdowns and no picks over the four-game stretch.

Nebraska, on the other hand, has not exactly been taking care of business this season. After winning two of their first three games, the Cornhuskers lost a pair of close contests against Oklahoma and Michigan State. Following a win over Northwestern, Scott Frost’s guys have lost three in a row to Michigan, Minnesota and most recently Purdue. Quarterback Adrian Martinez has led the team in both passing and rushing, throwing for nearly 2,300 yards with 12 TDs and seven INTs while adding another 438 yards and 11 scores on the ground. Despite their struggles, Nebraska has kept things close in every game it’s played, with all six of it’s losses coming by eight points or less.

Ohio State vs. Nebraska: Week 10 betting lines

(All odds courtesy of the DraftKings Sportsbook)

Spread: Ohio State -15.5
Over/Under: 63.5

Ohio State opens as over two-touchdown favorites against Nebraska. The Buckeyes will be without linebacker Steele Chambers for the first half of this game, as the former running back was ejected for targeting in the second half of the Penn State game. Ohio State will be looking to get the ground game going this time around, as the offensive line really struggled in run blocking against the Nittany Lions. TreVeyon Henderson finished with 28 carries for 152 yards, but 68 of those yards came on one long run as the star freshman averaged just 3.1 yards per carry on his other 27 totes.

The Buckeyes will also hope to be much more efficient in the red zone, which was a large reason for their offensive struggles against Penn State. Ohio State was inexplicably just 1-for-6 scoring touchdowns in the red zone, which was largely a result of their lack of production in the run game. Luckily, kicker Noah Ruggles has continued his perfect start in Columbus, nailing all four of his field goal attempts in the game. Surely red zone offense will be a point of emphasis for the coaching staff in practice this week, and they will hopefully be able to work on some things against a Nebraska team that isn’t expected to to pose all too much of a threat — at least in terms of winning the game outright.

It is interesting that Ohio State was a bigger favorite against Penn State than they are against Nebraska, but as previously mentioned the Cornhuskers have done a good job of keeping games close, plus they get the added benefit of being at home for this one.

Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.