Ohio State Buckeyes Vs. Northwestern Wildcats: Odds, Score Prediction For Big Ten Championship Game

College football’s various conference championships will be settled this weekend, with the Big 12, Pac-12 and SEC determining a regular season champion, among others. There are College Football Playoff implications in almost all of the conference title games, including the Big Ten championship matchup between the No. 6 Ohio State Buckeyes and No. 21 Northwestern Wildcats on Saturday.

The Buckeyes are heavy favorites over the Wildcats, which is the case with almost every conference title game this weekend. Ohio State is favored by 14.5 points, per OddsShark.

Ohio State looked unimpressive relatively to expectations for most of the regular season. A shocking 49-20 loss at Purdue in the middle of the season seemed to spell the end of the Buckeyes’ playoff hopes, but their resume has gotten a bit better since then. The Buckeyes offense exploded against a stout Michigan defense in the annual rivalry game last week, as Ohio State won 62-39.

In that game, quarterback Dwayne Haskins broke the Big Ten single-season touchdown pass record set by Drew Brees in 1998.

Still, Ohio State needs to beat Northwestern and get some help to have any hope of making the College Football Playoff. Their best bet is for both Oklahoma and Georgia to lose.

Oddsmakers have little confidence in Northwestern because the Wildcats have not been particularly impressive this year. They were competitive in a loss to No. 3 Notre Dame and scored a vital road win against then-ranked Iowa, but they are a mere 12th in the Big Ten in total offense.

Prediction: Ohio State finally came to life against Michigan and will play with added motivation to get a playoff spot. Northwestern is always well-coached and competitive, but the talent gap is simply too wide between both teams to pick the Wildcats.

Ohio State wins, 48-21