Saturday night in Eugene, Oregon, the No. 2 Ohio State Buckeyes and No. 3 Oregon Ducks will meet for the first time as conference rivals with more than just Big Ten title aspirations at stake.
Ohio State has rolled through its early-season schedule, with three blowout wins in nonconference play followed by a 38-7 win over Michigan State and a 35-7 beatdown of Iowa in Big Ten action.
Oregon survived scares in Weeks 1 and 2 against FCS foe Idaho and Boise State. The Ducks have since looked much more like a team capable of competing for a national title, with convincing wins over Oregon State, UCLA and Michigan State.
This highly anticipated contest kicks off at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC.
Ohio State vs. Oregon Betting Odds
Below are the odds for Saturday night’s game in Eugene in three key markets: the spread, moneyline and total.
| DraftKings | bet365 | FanDuel | |
| OSU spread | -3 (-108) | -3 (-110) | -3.5 (-110) |
| UO spread | +3 (-112) | +3 (-110) | +3.5 (-110) |
| OSU ML | -148 | -160 | -156 |
| UO ML | +124 | +135 | +130 |
| Total | 54 (o-110; u-110) | 54 (o-110; u-110) | 54.5 (o-105; u-115) |
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Ohio State vs. Oregon Betting Preview
Ohio State Buckeyes Betting News, Analysis
Ohio State has as much future talent as any team in the country, and the Buckeyes have lived up to their high preseason expectations through five games.
This roster is loaded on both sides of the ball, and if there are holes on this team, no one has exposed them yet.
The catch is that — with all due respect to Michigan State and Iowa — it’s hard to glean much from a national title contender’s matchups with the likes of Akron, Western Michigan and Marshall.
Buckeyes RBs Quinshod Judkins and TreVeyon Henderson as well as WRs Jeremiah Smith and Emeka Egbuka have all lived up to expectations, and the Ohio State defense has also been dominant. Smith, a true freshman, already has piled up 453 yards receiving and 6 TDs, with an absurd 19.7 yards per reception on 23 catches.
The question for Ohio State that will likely determine whether this team can win it all is whether former Kansas State QB Will Howard can make the plays that last year’s signal caller, Kyle McCord, could not against Michigan in the Buckeyes’ lone loss of 2023.
Howard’s numbers this year have been solid (93-of-130 passing for 1,248 yards, 12 TD and 3 interceptions), but he has not found himself in any challenging, high-pressure situations yet this year.
Oregon Ducks Betting News, Analysis
Oregon was expected to have one of the top offenses in the country this season after adding QB Dillon Gabriel from Oklahoma in the transfer portal.
In Week 1, Gabriel and the Oregon offense did not exactly pick up where Bo Nix left off a year ago, as Oregon scored just 14 points in the first three quarters of its season opener.
The Ducks also struggled at home in Week 2 vs. Boise State, winning 37-34 to narrowly avoid the upset. The Broncos are now No. 17 in the country, and struggling to stop Boise RB Ashton Jeanty — the current Heisman Trophy betting favorite — is a lot more understandable in hindsight.
In recent weeks, Oregon has beaten Oregon State, UCLA and Michigan State by at least 20 points apiece.
Dan Lanning’s team does not have quite as many future pros as the Buckeyes, but between Gabriel, WRs Tez Johnson and Evan Stewart, TE Terrance Ferguson and RB Jordan James, this offense boasts plenty of star power.
Defensively, Oregon has been solid under Lanning since he took over in 2022. This year’s team is led on that side of the ball by D-linemen Jordan Burch and Derrick Harmon and CB Jabbar Muhammad.
Ohio State vs. Oregon Prediction, Best Bets
Like Penn State vs. USC, this is a tough game to predict. Neither the Buckeyes nor the Ducks have faced a top-10 opponent yet, and it’s never easy to project how leveling up in competition will affect a team.
With that in mind, we’re going to cop out on the spread in this game and give out just one play: the over.
While both these defenses are solid, good offense beats good defense in this sport in 2024. See: Georgia vs. Alabama two weeks ago (Alabama 41, Georgia 34) and Michigan’s 30-24 win over OSU last November, among other recent examples.
Both these teams just have too many weapons for even a strong defense to stifle for 60 minutes. In what we expect to be a close game, we think it will take 30 points to win this one.
For that reason, we like a total of greater than 54 points more than we like either side of the tight spread for this matchup.
Ohio State vs. Oregon Best Bets
- Over 54 (-110 at DraftKings, bet365)
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