Top 5 College Football Showdown: Penn State vs. Ohio State

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00:00The noon Eastern time kick in State College, Pennsylvania.

00:07It's a top five tilt.

00:08It's our college football today.

00:10Game of the week.

00:11It's number three, Penn State, number four, Ohio State.

00:14The Buckeyes, a three and a half point road favorite, that total of 47 and a hook is on

00:20the rise.

00:21It is a focus on Happy Valley where Joe, the narrative will reign supreme on this opening

00:27Saturday in November.

00:29Ryan Day is two and six straight up against AP, top five opponents in his tenure in Columbus.

00:35James Franklin on the other side for the Penn Staters, one and nine against the Buckeyes,

00:40just three and 17 outright against AP, top 10 foes.

00:44How are you factoring into your handicap the narrative entering Saturday?

00:48Well, both coaches need this win, right?

00:50Ryan Day and James Franklin, they really need to step up and really solidify their top billing

00:55in the Big Ten right now.

00:57You look at Penn State, I think they could afford a loss, but Ohio State would have their

01:01backs against the wall with the one point loss on the road to Oregon, so they really

01:05need to play hard.

01:06They got pushed to the limit last week by Matt Ruhle in Nebraska.

01:09What were they?

01:10Double digit, 20 point favorites in that matchup and they were on life support in the fourth

01:14quarter.

01:15We saw Penn State, Drew Allard goes out in the first half.

01:18Second half, it was a four quarter game.

01:20They pull away from Wisconsin, but again, you look at the series perspective, Kev.

01:24Ohio State has won seven straight.

01:27They've won the last four by an average margin of 10.7 points per game.

01:31They won last year 20 to 12.

01:33This is the lowest spread that we've seen in the series over the last eight meetings,

01:37so we'll see how it plays out.

01:38Rushing attacks will be critical for both teams.

01:41I do give the inside track to Penn State because they're playing at home.

01:45It's interesting because you're right to bring up the low nature of the spread, though.

01:49Last year's number was four, four and a half, yeah.

01:51And that was at Ohio State.

01:52So kind of again, year over year, this would actually suggest that there's been a gap widened

01:59by Ohio State, which is preseason 100% what everybody would think.

02:05Is it how we feel in season?

02:07I think that's the tricky thing about this football game is the Ohio State sample size

02:12is tough to navigate.

02:14It is mostly useless depending on how you view Iowa.

02:18I think that their win against the Hawkeyes is pretty solid.

02:21The loss to Oregon is nothing to be upset about.

02:24The number one ranked team in the country, almost unanimously, you lose by one on the

02:29road.

02:30But if Ohio State loses here today, small, are we sure that they should just be automatically

02:37in when there are a number of unbeaten football teams, much less the one loss teams that are

02:42currently ranked behind them, Ben?

02:44You see that price, minus $8.50 for Ohio State to reach the college football playoff.

02:50It's the fourth best number out of any team in the country to get to the CFP.

02:55Kev, Ohio State has been favored in all seven games this year, just three and four against

02:59the spread.

03:00They've only been favored by 17 points or less once.

03:03It was against Oregon, also on the road, laying about a field goal at a top five tilt.

03:09They lost that game outright.

03:11Penn State has been favored in all seven of its contests so far this season.

03:15An underdog only 30 times and now 11 years under James Franklin.

03:20It's 15 and 15 ATS and only seven outright wins.

03:24They are looking for that outright win in this marquee and significant spot on this

03:30Saturday.

03:31But when Penn State has not been expected to win a football game, Kev, over the last

03:34few years, they have faltered.

03:36How does that, if you believe it is possible, change today in state college?

03:39So I think everybody right now is hoping that, ooh, this is the end, old Codal Nicky game.

03:44He's going to open this thing up.

03:45My problem, though, is now some books are hanging Drew Aller numbers like he's fine.

03:50Others are not willing to hang the Drew Aller props.

03:53What does that mean?

03:54If the Penn State quarterback is a little bit banged up, it makes this tricky for me

03:58considering I'm not fully sold on Drew Aller still.

04:02I'm becoming a little bit more sold on Will Howard, though.

04:06Will Howard's been excellent so far in Big Ten competition, and again, considering he's

04:11played Iowa and Oregon, I don't think we can pretend that's irrelevant.

04:14He's completing well over 75% of his passes through those four games, 250 passing yards

04:20per game, 14 total touchdowns to just three interceptions.

04:24What I've seen from Will Howard is not just a quarterback who looks good enough to win

04:29with this roster, but a quarterback, Leecey, who is currently 101 to win the Heisman Trophy.

04:35Well, we know that Dylan Gabriel's main argument is, I'm the number one team in the country.

04:40A win here for Ohio State, they will be barreling towards a rematch with the Ducks.

04:46Again, I haven't placed a wager.

04:48I'm a little interested in Will Howard.

04:50Of course, though, he needs to win and play well today.

04:51Yeah, he has a big performance.

04:53He's going to be there, has the opportunity in terms of a 12 o'clock kick right in front

04:57of everybody's eyes on the road.

05:00He's played well.

05:01The first game against Oregon, put up numbers, just couldn't close it out in the final minute

05:05of that matchup.

05:0617 touchdowns, four interceptions, over 1,700 yards.

05:11He's also mobile and is plus 185 to hit Pager today.

05:14So we'll see how that situation plays out.

05:17The main concern for me, guys, is the rushing attack of Ohio State.

05:20Statistically, very good, but you look at last week, they were under their average of

05:24about 141 two weeks ago.

05:27Last week, it was like 64.

05:28They need a much better effort this game.

05:31They need to be in the area of about 180, 190 to take the pressure off of Will Howard today.

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