Quarterback Justin Fields can help make his case to win the Heisman Trophy when he and the No. 3 Ohio State Buckeyes take on the No. 18 Penn State Nittany Lions in a Halloween night showdown at Beaver Stadium in University Park, Pa. Fields, a 6-foot-3 junior from Kennesaw, Ga., is the only Heisman finalist from 2019 to return this year. He began his season last week by completing 20-of-21 passes for 276 yards and two touchdowns and running for 54 yards and another score in a 52-17 win over Nebraska. On Saturday he faces a Nittany Lions team that allowed just 211 yards of total offense last week against Indiana.
Kickoff is 7:30 p.m. ET. The Buckeyes are 10-point favorites in the latest Ohio State vs. Penn State odds from William Hill, while the over-under for total points scored is 64. Before making any Penn State vs. Ohio State picks, check out the college football predictions from the SportsLine's Stephen Oh, given his run picking games involving the Buckeyes.
The renowned co-founder of Accuscore, Oh simulates each game 10,000 times using the SportsLine projection model. Since the start of the 2016 season, he has nailed 163 of 300 college football picks against the spread.
Dating to September 2017, Oh is 17-3 picking Buckeyes games, including successfully taking Ohio State as a 27-point favorite over Nebraska last week. Anyone who has followed him is way up.
Now, Oh has set his sights on Ohio State vs. Penn State. You can visit SportsLine now to see the picks. Here are the college football odds from William Hill and trends for Penn State vs. Ohio State:
- Ohio State vs. Penn State spread: Buckeyes -10
- Ohio State vs. Penn State over-under: 64 points
- Ohio State vs. Penn State money line: Buckeyes -355, Nittany Lions +295
- OSU: Fields accounted for 51 touchdowns (41 passing, 10 rushing) last season.
- PSU: Pat Freiermuth owns the school career record for receiving TDs by a tight end (16).
Why Ohio State can cover
The Buckeyes already look to be in midseason form. After Nebraska tied the game at 14-14 with 8:24 remaining in the second quarter last week, the Cornhuskers scored just three points and had just 176 total yards for the final two and a half quarters. Meanwhile Fields, who was a Heisman Trophy finalist last year, accounted for 330 total yards and three touchdowns in the win.
In addition, Penn State has not had success recently against teams ranked in the top five. Since 1996, the Nittany Lions are 2-18 against top-five teams. The average score in those 20 games has been 32-14.
Why Penn State can cover
The Nittany Lions have one of the best defensive ends in the country in Shaka Toney. A 6-foot-3 senior from Philadelphia, Toney was a second-team all-Big Ten honoree last year and was named to the Nagurski Trophy watch list entering this season. In the season opener last week against Indiana, Toney had seven tackles, two sacks and a quarterback hurry.
In addition Penn State has a prolific red zone threat in tight end Pat Freiermuth. The junior, who was named to the Walter Camp preseason All-America team, owns the school career record for receiving touchdowns by a tight end (16). Last season he had seven touchdowns to rank fourth in the country among those at his position.
How to make Ohio State vs. Penn State picks
Oh has analyzed this matchup and while he's leaning under the total, he has discovered a crucial x-factor he believes makes one side of the spread a must-back. You can only get the pick at SportsLine.
So who wins Penn State vs. Ohio State? And what crucial x-factor causes one side of the spread to hit hard? Visit SportsLine now to see which side you need to jump all over Saturday, all from the data scientist and Ohio State expert who's on an amazing 17-3 run on picks involving the Buckeyes since September 2017.
