Ohio State seventeen point favorites versus Cal
Who’s smiling mug did you expect us to feature in this spot?
Ohio State (2-0, 0-0 B1G) has opened up as seventeen point favorites for Saturday’s home match-up against the California Golden Bears (1-1, 0-0 Pac-12) in Ohio Stadium. The Buckeyes are coming off back-to-back home routes of non-conference opponents Miami (OH) and Central Florida, while Cal is coming into Columbus off a 50-31 route of Southern Utah after falling to Nevada in week one.
While head coach Urban Meyer and his guys in Scarlet and Gray are 2-0 on the field, they’re now 1-1 on the season against the point spread after a 31-16 win over UCF as 16-point favorites and are 2-3 against the spread in their last five dating back to their 20-14 loss to Penn State last November. The Buckeyes are only 1-4 against the spread in their last five games in Ohio Stadium.
Cal is 0-2 against the point spread in 2012, and also 2-3 against the spread over their last five, dating back to a November loss to the Stanford Cardinal. Cal is a measly 2-8 against the spread in their last ten road games, which doesn’t bode well coming into Columbus to face Meyer’s potentially high-powered offense.
The Over/Under on Saturday is set at +52.5 for the combined points put up by both teams. Ohio State is averaging 43.5 on offense while holding their two opponents to just 13.0 points-per-game while Cal is averaging 37.0 on offense and 31.0 as a team defense.
Ohio State has DE Michael Bennett and RB Carlos Hyde out for this Saturday and it’s yet to be seen how much action RB Jordan Hall will see coming off of seven weeks of rehab after surgery to repair a torn tendon in his left foot.
As of Wednesday, after already missing LB David Wilkerson for the season, Cal has T Matt Summers-Gavin and LB Jason Gibson listed as out for Saturday and LB Chris McCain and TE Richard Rodgers both listed as questionable.
The Buckeyes are 21-3 straight up in their last 24 in the electric atmosphere of Ohio Stadium, while Cal is just 1-5 straight up in their last six road contests.
If the Vegas odds-makers are spot on, Ohio State would bring home a 35-18 victory this Saturday afternoon. The question today is…
Do you feel like you have a good grasp on Saturday’s outcome? How about just a gut feeling? Put your intuition to the test in our brand new Empire Lounge, an Empire Forum section built to allow you to put your sports knowledge against those very same Vegas odd-makers. It’s simple – it’s 100% free – and it’s fun…
Late last night we officially launched The Empire Lounge and immediately added four sets of (FREE!) wagering opportunities for this weekend:
- MAIN EVENT: California at #12 Ohio State (32 betting opportunities)
- Big Ten Slate of Games – Week 3 (16 betting opportunities)
- PRIME TIME SPECIAL: #20 Notre Dame at #10 Michigan State (32 betting opportunities)
- NFL Slate of Games – Week 2 (30 betting opportunities)
The premise of the Lounge is simple: When you register for free to the Empire Forum you immediately receive 500 points with which you can use to make bets. All 110 opportunities that are listed above for this weekend have actual odds attached to each and every one, pulled directly from Sports Interaction, a Canadian based betting service.
Can you pinpoint Ohio State’s winning margin within five points, or simply think you know whether or not they’ll win by seventeen or more? Do you know which quarter this Saturday will be the highest scoring of the game? Will Michigan State out-duel the Irish by seven or more points? Can the Bengals cover -7.0 against the Browns in the first Battle of Ohio of the 2012-13 NFL season?
Ok, so you might lose some of your points, but there are more ways to earn them than just winning wagers…
Start a thread? Earn points. Post a comment on a thread someone else started? Earn more points. Create a thread interesting enough to pull in other current members to read it? Earn more points. And the nicest part about it – it all happens automatically. No waiting for a Mod to add points you’ve earned to your stash before kickoff. It’s all built into an automatic point system.
So what are you waiting for? Log-in or register over at the free Empire Forum, kick your feet up in The Lounge and place your free wagers before noon this Saturday. Who doesn’t like a friendly, free wager to add a little more weight to the games you’ll already be watching?
Hell of an Idea...It should be very entertaining!!!