Buckeyes are double-digit favorites in four ‘Game of the Year’ matchups

The South Point casino in Las Vegas has a number of Ohio State games highlighted on its list of “Games of the Year”, but the Buckeyes are pegged as two-score favorites in all of them.

Three of the Scarlet and Gray’s Big Ten matchups, as well as Ohio State’s nonconference opener against Oregon on Sept. 11, made the South Point’s catalog of nearly 100 college football games to keep an eye on, and the casino listed odds for all of them this past week.

Against the Ducks, a home game for the Buckeyes after starting the 2021 season on the road at Big Ten West Division foe Minnesota on Sept. 2, the South Point has the Buckeyes listed as a -13 favorite.

The Buckeyes are 9-0 all-time against Oregon, although the two programs have matched up just twice in the 21st century, and not since Ohio State won the first-ever College Football Playoff National Championship Game by a score of 42-20 in Arlington, Texas, in January 2015.

Ohio State was scheduled to play Oregon on the road in 2020, but the game was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Ohio State athletic director Gene Smith revealed last week that the Buckeyes have scheduled a home-and-home series with Oregon in 2032 and 2033, and will pay the Oregon program $3.5 million to come to Columbus, Ohio, for the 2021 matchup.

The South Point has also circled Ohio State’s Oct. 23 road meeting with Indiana as one of its games of the year, although once again, the Buckeyes slotted in as a 13-point favorite.

The Buckeyes knocked off the Hoosiers by a lopsided 51-10 margin in their last trip to Bloomington back in 2019, but the 2020 meeting in Columbus featured plenty of late-game dramatics.

Despite a 35-7 Ohio State lead at halftime, Indiana stormed back to come within one final possession of the Buckeyes, as Hoosier quarterback Michael Penix Jr. finished with nearly 500 yards passing in the 42-35 loss.

Still, a close contest could not snap a streak of 25-straight losses to Ohio State, which remains the favorite heading into October’s clash.

The week after Ohio State takes on Indiana, the Buckeyes will get a crack at extending their win streak over Penn State to five in a matchup that the South Point has pinned down as another game of the year.

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Ohio State is a double-digit favorite against the Nittany Lions as well, with the Buckeyes being plotted down with -12 odds in the Oct. 30 game.

Penn State, which had a sub-.500 win percentage for the first time since 2004 last season, dropped 38-25 to Ohio State at home last Halloween, despite outscoring the Buckeyes 19-17 in the second half.

It comes as little surprise that the Big Ten’s most storied rivalry game also made the South Point’s list, as Ohio State-Michigan is the fourth and final game of the year that features the Scarlet and Gray.

The Wolverines haven’t beaten the Buckeyes since 2011, and the South Point does not favor them to break that skid this year, as Ohio State carries the status of 13-point favorites into the regular-season-ending Nov. 27 matchup.

The Game was canceled this past season due to COVID-19, but the contentious rivalry will get back on track in 2021, when the Buckeyes return to Ann Arbor, Michigan, where they secured a 56-27 win in the most recent installment of the series.