Jason Radowitz is 3-0 in his College GameDay Game of the Week Best Bets. He’ll look to produce another winner for Week 5.
I’m 3-0 with my College GameDay best bets after Iowa defeated Iowa State last week. This week we’ve got a match-up between 5 Ohio State (4-0) and Nebraska (3-1). Nebraska Head Coach Scott Frost is still looking for his first signature win as a Cornhusker. Could this be the game?
Ohio State
The Ohio State Buckeyes have beat their first four opponents by 44.5 points a game. Transfer quarterback Justin Fields has become an amazing dual-threat playmaking quarterback. Fields, through four games, has thrown for 880 yards and thrown 13 touchdowns and rushed for six while his running back partner J.K. Dobbins has rushed for 477 yards and five touchdowns. It’s safe to say that the offense is … great.
But surprisingly enough, it’s not just the offense that’s making Ohio State great this season. The defense is stepping up in a big way. The Buckeyes rank third in the country in scoring defense and second in yards per play. Let’s just get this out of the way: Chase Young is going to be at the top of the 2020 draft boards after the season is over.
The Buckeyes have outscored their opponents 214-36 to begin the season. They’ve been dominant.
Nebraska
Nebraska’s Adrian Martinez was talked up this entire off-season as the sleeper Heisman pick. He’s been good averaging 321.5 yards of total offense. Last week, against Illinois, he produced 445 yards of total offense, which was close to a Nebraska team record.
The spread is sitting at 17 points. And anyone who remembers last year, remembers Nebraska fell just short to Ohio State on the road by the score of 36-31.
Nebraska’s offense is starting to kick it in gear over the last few weeks against Northern Illinois and Illinois. Nebraska has exploded at times in the offense but their offense hasn’t played against a defense at the caliber of Ohio State’s.
The VerdictNebraska at home will be the biggest test of the year for Ohio State thus far. Adrian Martinez played a very good game last time against Ohio State and he figures to do the same at home this time. It’s going to be an intense environment and should be close in the first half.
Once Nebraska starts to wear down, Ohio State should be able to cover in this one. I’ll take Ohio State -17.
