Buckeyes open as double-digit favorite for top-five showdown vs. Indiana

COLUMBUS — Ohio State has made it through the boring two-game stretch against overmatched teams in November. Now it’s on to a pair of massive games.

The second will be more about emotion, fight and revenge than it is about competition; Michigan is just 5-5 on the season. But the first of these final two games, this one upcoming at home against No. 5 Indiana, well, it’s a high-stakes late-season game.

The Buckeyes enter the week as a 10.5-point favorite for the showdown in Columbus on Saturday, according to the folks at Fanduel Sportsbook. The total is set at 55.5.

Indiana is 10-0 for the first time in program history. The Hoosiers are playing really well under first-year head coach Curt Cignetti. They’re coming to Columbus to win the game and assert themselves as a national title favorite. As for the Buckeyes, they’re happy to be on the other side of the two-game stretch against lesser-than teams and onto Indiana.

“A lot of people ask me that going into the game, “how do you stay focused on this, knowing there’s other things down the road?” But the truth is, you lose this game here, you’re out against the Big Ten Championship game,” Ohio State coach Ryan Day said. “So we know that, we know that we’ve got to be playing our best football in November. We want to be consistent in everything we do. Because either we are or we aren’t, and everything you do is hard in the Big Ten. [Northwestern] had two weeks to prepare, and it’s the same thing with the team we’re going to play next week. They’ve had two weeks to prepare. They’ve had a bye week coming into this so they had a week to game plan us. … I think it’s good to get a business-like win, and now it’s time to move on.”

It is time to move on — to a top-five showdown against Indiana. Ohio State is ready for it.

Ohio State vs. Indiana betting notes, trends

+ Ohio State is 5-5 against the spread this season
+ Indiana is 8-2 against the number
+ The Buckeyes have won their last 28 meetings against Indiana
+ The total has gone under in six of the 10 Ohio State games so far
+ The total has gone over in seven of Indiana’s 10 games this year
+ This is the first time Indiana has not been favored this season
+ Indiana hasn’t beaten a ranked team this season

2024 Ohio State Football Schedule

Aug. 31 – Akron (W 52-6)
Sept. 7 – Western Michigan (W 56-0)
Sept. 14 – Idle
Sept. 21 – Marshall (W 49-14)
Sept. 28 – at Michigan State (W 38-7)
Oct. 5 – Iowa (W 35-7)
Oct. 12 – at Oregon (L 32-31)
Oct. 19 – Idle
Oct. 26 – Nebraska (W 21-17)
Nov. 2 – at Penn State (W 20-13)
Nov. 9 – Purdue (W 45-0)
Nov. 16 – at Northwestern (W 31-7)
Nov. 23 – Indiana (Noon, FOX)
Nov. 30 – Michigan (Noon, FOX)