Ohio State vs MI 2015 betting odds: Who’s the opening favorite?

Before the football season began, many Spartan fans had November 21 circled on their calendars.

UM coach Jim Harbaugh – who guaranteed a win against Ohio State as Michigan’s quarterback in 1986 – wasn’t about to make any boasts in preparation to face the Buckeyes for his first time as Michigan’s coach. A noon game at MI (9-2, 6-1) awaits. “We focused on this moment”.

With its two backup quarterbacks, MI State was still able to derail OSU’s unbeaten season with a 17-14 upset in a soaked and windy Ohio Stadium in front a record crowd of 108,975. “They do understand that we’re in a situation right now where we have to beat Penn State”.

Both players are more of a threat with their legs than Cook would have been.

The Spartans were 13-point underdogs coming in and you probably could have gotten another touchdown from the odds makers when MI State took the field for its first drive without Cook. “We weren’t put in the right situations to win this game”, Elliott also said.

From the looks of things late Saturday night in OH, you’d think the world had come to an end, but no, the Buckeyes just lost a football game; their first in over a year.

MI State needs to beat Penn State on Saturday to win the Big Ten East and lock up a spot in the conference championship game. Elliott had his 15-game consecutive 100-yard per game streak snapped.

“We tackled well, we won at the line of scrimmage”, Dantonio said. “There wasn’t a lot of places (for Elliott) to go”. It was the only time MSU led in the game.

Nearly from the start, Ohio State was just trying to survive. Amara Darboh and Jake Butt have combined for 1,201 receiving yards and eight touchdowns while Jehu Chesson has 37 receptions. J.T. Barrett threw pass to Jalin Marshall on the next play and made it 14-7 Ohio State with 3:33 left in the third quarter. OSU was forced to punt on nine of their 11 drives, the only two non-punts were the two that came from turnovers.

“Are you going to bow your head and turn the other way, or are you going to lift your head up?” he said. “I think he’s close”.

“Honestly, I can’t speak for the play calling”. The Hawkeyes, who clinched the Big Ten West, were ranked fifth last week. The Buckeyes might not be officially buried, but they are in critical condition.

The Spartans are in the driver’s seat of the Big Ten East. They must go out and take care of their business. They’ll need a lot more help to have a shot at returning to the College Football Playoff. That was the worst offensive output by an Urban Meyer-coached team.

“We’ve just been hit in the gut, and Zeke actually said a few words down there (in the locker room)”.

Yet the hallmark of a Dantonio-coached team surfaced again. “We can not lose sight. We have to win next week, we at least control our own destiny and that’s the goal”.

O’Connor was steady when the Spartans got the ball back. The defending national champions suffered their first loss of the season at home, when MI State buried a last-second field goal to knock off the Buckeyes. Contributing to the problem was that the offensive line also seemed to regress at times.

MI State kept the ball on the ground with its quarterbacks and tailbacks, running it a total of 51 times for more than 200 yards, while dominating the time of possession.