Northwestern is very very under rated and they have a very good coach. Some may say that Pat Fitzgerald is a top 10 coach giving what he's done with this program. Northwestern had a bye week and before that they had Maine and Western Michigan so there has been plenty of time for this team to prepare for the game of their lives. That's exactly what this is because Ohio State is off 17 straight wins under Urban Meyer and gaining position in the polls. With ESPN Gameday going to Northwestern on Saturday night it would be huge for this program to pull the upset. Ohio State also just came off a big game against Wisconsin and when you look at the common opponent for these two (road trip at Cal) both won and put up very similar numbers. This is just the second road game for Ohio STate and in their first they allowed Cal to move the ball for 503 yards.
Ohio State's defense is still a huge question mark. Most of it was over the young front 7, but they played well last week while the secondary played poorly as Abbredaris had over 200 yards receiving. Many feel Northwestern has the better offense over Wisconsin and I think it's close. Northwestern will present a completely different challenge with a QB that can make plays with his feet and a talented back in Venrick Mark and Treyvon Green. Kain Colter is the runner at QB while Trevor Siemian has the big arm. On the flip side I think Northwestern is experienced on defense in the right spots in the front 7. Their DE Tyler Scott leads the Big 10 in sacks and the linebackers are full of veterans that should get some key stops. Overall this will be the toughest road challenge for Ohio State and I truly think Northwestern can come up with the big upset, but with this spread moving to a TD I'll buy the 1/2 point because Northwestern is 8-3 ATS following a bye week.
