Best bet to take in the Ohio State vs. Michigan game

The 11-0 Ohio State Buckeyes will come to Ann Arbor to take on the 9-2 Michigan Wolverines. It's a very high stakes game for both teams, as it is every year. Ohio State already has their playoff spot secured and is looking to get back to the Big Ten Championship game as well as snap Michigan's 4-game win streak in this rivalry. Michigan needs to win to give themselves a chance to go to Indianapolis and get back into the playoff mix. It'll be a big game as always on Saturday, and let's dive into what the power ratings say about these two teams.

Ohio State

Ohio State enters this game as the top ranked team in my favorite set of power ratings. The KFord Ratings have Ohio State as 30.0 overall, meaning they would be a 30.0 point favorite on a neutral field over the exactly average D1 college football team. They are also rated 4th nationally on offense, and 1st nationally on defense. The one aspect of Ohio State that is not highly rated per the power ratings is on Special Teams. On Special Teams, they're rated 104th in the country. Now that we see how the KFord Ratings view Ohio State, let's see how the power ratings view Michigan.

Michigan

In the KFord Ratings so far this year, Michigan is rated 19th nationally at a 16.7. That means that on average, they would be favored by 16.7 against the exactly average D1 college football team on a neutral field. It has them rated 32nd on offense, and 12th on defense. The biggest hole for Michigan in the power ratings is the Special Teams, where it has them at 127th nationally. Now that we've seen the profile for both teams, lets dive into the best bet for this game.

Best bet

As for the best bet, with the KFord ratings, you simply take the Ohio State power rating of 30.0 and subtract the Michigan power rating of 16.7 and you get a 13.3. Then you need to factor in home field advantage, which for this game is probably more of a 3.0 given that it's in Ann Arbor this year. That would move the projected spread to a 10.3 in favor of Ohio State.

The current betting line at most sports books is -10.5 in favor of the visiting Buckeyes, and with the KFord Ratings we nailed it down to a 10.3 in favor of Ohio State. That means the KFord Ratings show slight value on Michigan in this game. I actually disagree with the power ratings in this one. I think the game will be close for a long time, with both teams taking turns scoring. I have Ohio State scoring a late TD to put the game on ice and win by a final score of 34-20 over the Wolverines so I would take the -10.5 in favor of Ohio State for the best bet in this game.

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change. If you or someone you know has a gambling problem and wants help, call 1-800-GAMBLER.

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