By MARK ANDERSON
LAS VEGAS (AP) — Ohio State ended the regular season with many questions about its program under coach Ryan Day after the Buckeyes were upset by rival Michigan 13-10 on Nov. 30.
Now, the Buckeyes not only are in the College Football Playoff national championship game on Jan. 20 against Notre Dame in Atlanta, they are the second-biggest favorites in the title game since the playoff began 10 years ago.
BetMGM Sportsbook and Caesars Sportsbook each had Ohio State favored by 9½ points on Saturday. The only larger line for the championship game, according to Vegas Insider, occurred two years ago when Georgia was favored by 13½ over Texas Christian. The Bulldogs easily covered with a 65-7 victory.
Four years ago, Alabama was favored by nine over Ohio State and won 52-24.
CBS SportsLine handicapper Bruce Marshall said he doesn’t see this matchup playing out anywhere close to those games, arguing that the Buckeyes will be pushed by Notre Dame.
“Way too high, way too high, way too high,” Marshall said of the point spread. “They’re not going to roll over these guys, I don’t think, unless something crazy happens.”
Caesars head of football Joey Feazel said most of the early betting has come in on the Fighting Irish, “which is slightly surprising as it has been an onslaught of Ohio State action for the past three weeks. I expect this line to come down slightly towards Notre Dame as we get closer to game time and expect this national championship to be slower-paced.”
BetMGM trading manager Seamus Magee called the early action “very balanced, which we expect to continue throughout the week. Slightly higher volume on Ohio State money line, but certainly some interest in Notre Dame as well. We anticipate the book to need an outright Buckeyes win, which is also favorable from a futures perspective.”
Ohio State rolled through the first two rounds of the playoffs, beating Tennessee 42-17 and topping previously undefeated and top-ranked Oregon 41-21 in a game that wasn’t even that close.
The final score in the Buckeyes’ 28-14 victory over Texas in Friday night’s semifinal also was deceiving, but for different reasons. The Longhorns had a chance to pull even with first-and-goal at the 1-yard line before Ohio State’s defense came up with a dominant goal-line stand, capped by Jack Sawyer’s strip-sack that he returned for an 83-yard touchdown.
That play was set up by an outside run on second down that Ohio State stopped for a 7-yard loss.
“Ohio State was very fortunate (Friday) night,” Marshall said. “I cannot believe Texas ran that play at second-and-1 at the goal line. They’re ready to tie the game. That thing’s going to overtime.”
Notre Dame got to the title game by beating Indiana 27-17, Georgia 23-10 and Penn State 27-24.
“You really saw this against Penn State, they’ve got speed,” Marshall said. “They’re not slow at all. They have almost SEC-type speed on that team.”
Marshall pointed out that the Irish have covered the past 11 point spreads and are 22-6 against the line going back to last season.
“I think Notre Dame could win, I really do,” Marshall said.
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