The hype has just begun for Ohio State, which was tagged the No. 1 team in the country in the first College Football Playoff rankings. It has a couple more freebies until the big games start, which means it will likely remain No. 1 for a few more weeks. The Buckeyes were -42.5 point home favorites with an over/under of 63.5 against Maryland.
There’s no reason to doubt Ohio State against weaker competition, already beating Indiana by 41, Nebraska by 41 and Northwestern by 49. Maryland is the definition of weaker team having lost its last four including by 42 points at Minnesota and 26 at Purdue. If those teams can beat Maryland by that many points, it should almost be automatic for OSU to win by at least 40.
The Buckeyes are simply dominating both sides of the ball and haven’t given up more than 10 points since the first game of the season. They’re coming off a bye and have held the likes of Indiana, MSU and Wisconsin to 10 points or less. That’s a problem for Maryland, which has scored 17 points in the last two games.
The quarterback issues continue for the Terrapins and that’s not going to help in this game. Josh Jackson started last week, but averaged less than five yards per attempt. Whether it’s Jackson or Tyrrell Pigrome under center, they’re unlikely to have success, combining for a 52.5% completion rate and 6.5 yards per attempt.
Now against maybe the best defense in the conference, it’ll be tough for the Terps to get first downs. That also includes whoever gets the ball out of the backfield even though they’re averaging 5.0 yards per carry behind Javon Leake and Anthony McFarland.
The other problem is that Maryland isn’t stopping anyone from scoring, giving up 413.8 yards and 30 points per game. Ohio State probably has the best offense in the Big Ten so that’s not going to help.
Justin Fields is doing a little bit of everything, completing 68.8% of his passes for 24 touchdowns and one interception to go with nine more touchdowns on the ground. He has a nice variety of targets with Chris Olave, Binjimen Victor and K.J. Hill all having similar numbers.
Running back J.K. Dobbins has gone for at least 120 yards in each of the last four games and is averaging 7.2 yards per carry for nine touchdowns on the season.
The Bucks could get out to a 40-point lead in the first half, which then brings into question a late cover for the Terps. While that’s possible, the Bucks haven’t really given up many late points this season so a huge 50-point win wouldn’t be surprising. But once they hit 50 points, Fields will likely be rested and that could come late in the third quarter.
Maryland is 2-12 ATS in its last 14 road games against a team with a winning home record, while Ohio State has covered its last seven conference games. The over has hit in the last five meetings between these schools, and that includes when Maryland scored 51 points last year, which it has almost no chance of doing again.
Our Pick – Maryland +43