Rose Bowl: Utah at Ohio State: 1/1/22 College Football Picks and Predictions

The Utah Utes and Ohio State Buckeyes face off on Saturday in a college football showdown in the Rose Bowl at Rose Bowl. The last time these two teams faced off was in 1986 and it was Ohio State that won 64-6. 

Utah comes into this game with a 10-3 record and they have gone 6-7 against the spread. There weren’t a ton of expectations surrounding this Utes team heading into the season, but they were able to knock off Oregon twice to seal the Pac-12 championship. In that last game against Oregon, it was the offense that was able to put up 38 points on the way to the easy victory. The Utes are averaging 35.46 points while their defense is giving up 20.6 points per game. Under center for Utah is Cameron Rising who has thrown for 2,279 yards, 18 touchdowns, and five interceptions. In this game, if Utah wants to win it’s going to need to be the defense that steps up. 

On the other side of this matchup is the Ohio State Buckeyes who sit with a 10-2 record overall and they have gone 6-5-1 against the spread. Even though Ohio State has had a season, they have to have a bad taste in their mouth after being knocked off by Michigan in the last game. The defense really struggled in that game giving up 42 points and that led to the defeat. Ohio State is an elite offensive team averaging 45.5 points and they are going to need the offense to be strong again. The Buckeyes are led by C.J. Stroud who has thrown for 3,862 yards, 38 touchdowns, and five interceptions. Jaxon Smith-Njigba and Garrett Wilson have been quite the 1-2 punch outside, and they both currently have over 1,000 receiving yards.