Ohio State Opens As 4.5-point Favorite Over Penn State

For the first time in 2018, Penn State will be an underdog as the fourth ranked Ohio State Buckeyes opened as a 4.5-point favorites, according to VegasInsider.com. But within five minutes of the line being opened, it moved a point closer to Penn State, where it now sits at Ohio State -3.5.

All things considered, that’s a rather favorable line for Penn State. It wouldn’t have been too surprising to see the line open as high as -7 in favor of the Buckeyes, so the fact that it was opened at -4.5 (and dropped to -3.5 almost immediately) shows that there’s quite a bit of belief in the Nittany Lions.

Saturday’s matchup of Big Ten heavyweights figures to be one of the biggest college football games of the season, and perhaps the biggest game in Beaver Stadium this century. The last time two top-ten ranked teams met in Happy Valley? 1999, when No. 3 Penn State blew out No. 4 Arizona 41-7.