Vegas Play of the Day: Ohio State at Penn State

By Ray Brewer (contact)

Saturday, Oct. 25, 2014 | 11:21 a.m.

Here’s the latest installment of the Play of the Day, which uses odds from the South Point. Our three sports writers started with a $10,000 bankroll — fictional, of course.

Ohio State minus-14 at Penn State: $1,100 to win $1,000: I’m breaking two of my gambling rules with today’s play. First, I hate playing double-digit college favorites on the road — that’s asking a lot of any team, especially college-age players in an unfamiliar background.

Secondly, I rarely bet a road team in one of those marquee television games. That’s Ohio State tonight at Penn State, where fans will be rowdy from a day of partying before the 5 p.m. kickoff on ABC. Also, Penn State had last week off, giving it two weeks to prepare for arguably its most significant game of the season.

It’s easy, though, to break my rules when it’s betting against Penn State. The Nittany Lions scored 19 points combined in their past two games and managed just 13 points against Rutgers in its lone Big Ten Conference win of the season. Rutgers, by comparison, gave up 14 points in the first quarter today against Nebraska.

Ohio State ranks fourth nationally at 46.5 points per game — the Buckeyes scored 56 points against Rutgers — and have scored more than 50 points in each of their past four games. More important, Ohio State is ranked No. 13 and feels it has an outside chance to sneak into the four-team playoff. Coach Urban Meyer knows the lone way to move up in the polls is to post convincing victories.

Here’s Ohio State’s chance on national television with everyone watching.

Standings: Bern (49-46-1, $10,321), Keefer (45-51, $8,631), Brewer (44-50-3, $5,405)

Ray Brewer can be reached at 702-990-2662 or [email protected]. Follow Ray on Twitter at twitter.com/raybrewer21