NCAA Football Matchup Preview – Buckeyes face Bobcats without Heisman candidate Wells

The No.3-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes suffered a huge scare in their opening game when they lost Chris “Beanie” Wells to injury, but they should have no problem on Saturday afternoon, when they host the Ohio Bobcats at Ohio Stadium.
Ohio Bobcats (+33.5) at No.3 Ohio State Buckeyes (-33.5) – 12:00 PM ET
The Bobcats could not get anything going on the ground as they fell 21-20 in their season opener at Wyoming, rushing for just 39 yards. This put a lot of pressure on quarterback Theo Scott, who responded by going 26-of-35 for 224 yards, one touchdown and one interception. This was a nice outing by the junior pivot, but you need to be able to run to control the clock, and the Bobcats were not able to do this. Ohio also killed themselves with penalties, committing 12. The Bobcats, quite frankly, are not a good enough team to overcome all of these mistakes.
Ohio State fans everywhere held their breath when Wells went to the ground during a 43-0 rout of Youngstown State at home. Wells, a leading candidate for the Heisman award according to most NCAA football futures, suffered a foot injury and will sit out this game as the Buckeyes need him for next week’s huge matchup with USC, which could have national-championship implications. Other than the injury to Wells, things went as expected for the Buckeyes, who gained 495 yards while holding Youngstown State to 74, including -11 on the ground. Todd Boeckman was 14-for-19 for 187 yards and a pair of touchdowns, but prized freshman quarterback Terrelle Pryor overshadowed that with an 18-yard run for the first touchdown of his college career.
The Buckeyes have massive NCAA football betting odds of -33.5 against the Bobcats, who are 0-5 lifetime against their more accomplished state rivals. The Buckeyes have long been one of the best defensive schools in the country, and Ohio’s problems with the ground game does not bode well against a unit that was third against the run last year, and has most of its main players back. Even without Wells in the lineup, expect the Buckeyes to cruise so they can start looking forward to their meeting with USC. Bet on Ohio State to romp over Ohio this week.
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