2021 Rose Bowl – Ohio St vs Utah
posted December 30
The Game
It’s the GRANDDADDY of them all, yo.
The 10-2 Ohio St Buckeyes lost to Michigan for the first time since the invention of the steam engine *** and find themselves out of the CFP and in the Rose Bowl on New Year’s Day. They’ll battle the PAC 12 champs from Utah (10-3) who SIZZLED down the stretch winning their final six games. They smoked Oregon on two occasions.
Let’s goooooo !
*** needs fact check
The Details
Ohio St -4 Utah (64)
MEGALOCKS LINE – Ohio St -6.5
“Vegas” Implied Projected Score: Ohio St 34 Utah 30
Ohio St offense vs Utah defense
The Buckeyes boast the #1 total offense (551 YPG) and #1 scoring offense (45.5 PPG) in the country and are led by superstar QB C.J. Stroud (3862, 38-5 TD to INT). They HAD the best WR group in the nation but two of three doods that tallied 900+ receiving yards have chosen to quit. C Olave and G Wilson had combined for 1995 yards and an impossible 25 TDs. #1 WR J Smith-Njigba is a star and the hope is that a few talented young specimens emerge in the THROW GAME. RB T Henderson is an absolute monster (1165, 7.0, 15 TD) but he hasn’t booked a 100-yard game since October. Utah is mighty tough vs the run (#20 FBS, 120 YPG) so it appears it’ll be up to Stroud to have a yuuuge game. Utah has been good vs the pass (#23 pass eff D) but will be missing some doods on the back end. The Utes lead the PAC 12 in sacks (42) but the Buckeyes have only allowed 17 sacks in 12G.
Utah offense vs Ohio St defense
The Utah offense has been REALLY good under QB C Rising who just might be one of the more underrated QBs in the entire country (63%, 18-5 TD to INT, 407 rush, 5 TD). They’ve got a powerful rushing attack (#13 FBS, 216 YPG) that’s DEEP and led by a legit #1 RB in T Thomas (1041, 20 TD). They do enough in the THROW GAME (#87 passing offense) and rely on their RBs to do damage thus opening up the AIR WAVES. They have a pair of excellent receiving TEs (Kuithe, Kincaid) that will need to be accounted for by the Ohio St pass D (#38 pass eff D). We worry about Ohio St’s ability to hold up at the point of attack and recall that Michigan absolutely steamrolled them on the ground in the regular season finale (297, 7.2, 6 TD), and note that Ohio St’s star DT H Garrett is another player who announced he’s quitting.
Trends, Intangibles and More!
Ohio St HC Ryan Day is 1-2 in bowl games including last year’s loss in the CFP Championship vs ROLL TIDE (L 52-24)…..The last time the Buckeyes played in the Rose Bowl they took down Washington (W 28-23) in what was LETCH Meyer’s last game as HC….Utah HC K Whittingham is a fantastic 11-3 SU in bowl action but have dropped their last two.
Summary
By all accounts the Utes are REALLY jacked up for this one and they’re the more physical team. Can’t trust a team that has players bailing on the regular.
Conclusion
Lean – Utah +4
Note:
‘Official play’ implies we have played the game for our standard wager amount.
‘Lean’ implies we are comfortable suggesting ‘small potatoes’ on the game if you want to get down on some sweet action.
‘No leanage’ implies we won’t be involved in the game from a betting standpoint. In-game wagering possibilities only.