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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.