by Amedeus Mastrangelo
Sunday, Dec 19, 2021
Game Time: 5:00 pm ET, Saturday, January 1, 2022
Venue: Rose Bowl Stadium, Pasadena, CA
Where to Watch: ESPN
Opening Odds at USA Sportsbooks
DraftKings: Point Spread: Utah +6.5, OSU -6.5; Over/Under: 66 points
Bet365: Point Spread: Utah +6.5, OSU -6.5; Over/Under: 66 points
BetMGM: Point Spread: Utah +6.5, OSU -6.5; Over/Under: 66 points
Season Record
Utah Utes: 10-3 (1st place, Pac-12 South)
Ohio State Buckeyes: 10-2 (2nd place, Big Ten East)
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Utah Utes vs Ohio State Buckeyes Preview and Analysis
Recent Form
Utah Utes: won on a neutral site on December 3 against the Oregon Ducks 38-10.
Ohio State Buckeyes: lost on the road on Nov. 27 against the Michigan Wolverines 42-27.
Utah Utes Analysis
Utah is coming into this game in California after finishing their regular season with a 10-3 record overall and they are 1-0 in their neutral site games this season where they will be in this game. They have won 9 of their last 10 games and they are coming into this one on a 6 game winning streak after another win in their last game. Their last loss was against the Oregon State Beavers but their 6 straight wins came against the UCLA Bruins, the Stanford Cardinal, the Arizona Wildcats, the Oregon Ducks, the Colorado Buffaloes, and the Oregon Ducks again in their last game. They beat Oregon 38-10 in that game and won the Pac-12 title as that was the Pac-12 Championship game. Cameron Rising completed 15/24 passes for 170 yards, 1 touchdown and 2 interceptions in that one. Tavion Thomas led the team in rushing with 63 yards and 2 touchdowns on 18 carries while TJ Pledger also had 1 TD on the ground in that one. Britain Covey led the receivers with 72 yards on 5 receptions while Dalton Kincaid had 61 yards and 1 touchdown on 4 receptions. Cole Bishop led the defense in that game with 7 solo tackles and 1 assisted one. Bishop along with Tennessee Pututau and Jonah Elliss all led the defense in sacks in that game with 1 each while Devin Lloyd and Malone Mataele both came up with 1 interception each for them in that one. They have scored 461 points in their 13 games this season averaging 35.5 PPG and they have allowed their opponents to score 268 points against them allowing 20.6 PPG. Their offense is averaging 355.8 YPG while their defense is allowing 348 YPG.
Ohio State Buckeyes Analysis
OSU is coming into this college football game after finishing their season with a 10-2 record overall and they will be playing their first neutral site game of the season in this game on New Year’s Day. They have won 9 of their last 10 games but are coming into this one off of a loss in their last game which snapped a 9 game winning streak that they were on. Their 9 wins in that span were against the Tulsa Golden Hurricane, the Akron Zips, the Rutgers Scarlet Knights, the Maryland Terrapins, the Indiana Hoosiers, the Penn State Nittany Lions, the Nebraska Cornhuskers, the Purdue Boilermakers, and the Michigan State Spartans while their loss came against the Michigan Wolverines in their last game. CJ Stroud completed 34/49 passes for 394 yards and 2 touchdowns in that one in a game that they needed to win to go to the Big Ten title game and they ended up missing the college football playoffs because of that loss. TreVeyon Henderson led the team in rushing with 74 yards and 1 touchdown on 17 carries. Jaxon Smith-Njigba led the receivers with 127 yards on 11 receptions while Garrett Wilson was right behind him with 119 yards and 1 touchdown on 10 receptions. Henderson caught the other touchdown pass in that one. Steele Chambers led the defense in that game with 5 solo tackles and 1 assisted one. No one on the defense recorded any sacks in that game while Bryson Shaw was the only one to come up with an interception for them in that one. They have scored 546 points in their 12 games this season averaging 45.5 PPG and they have allowed their opponents to score 251 points against them allowing 20.9 PPG. Their offense is averaging 551.3 YPG and their defense is allowing 366.6 YPG.
Utah vs Ohio State Prediction
Utah is coming into this Rose Bowl matchup as a 6.5 point underdog with the current betting odds according to Draftkings Sportsbook. Utah has been having a great season and they even finished as their conference champions. Their offense has been really good all season averaging over 35 points per game and their defense has been great also allowing less than 21 points per game. Even in the Pac-12 title game they held Oregon to only 10 points. They should be able to slow down OSU with their good defense and keep up on offense as well. This is not the game that Ohio State players wanted to be in though and they might not have a lot of motivation to play this game hard and win it. Utah had a great 10-3 season, they finished as a conference champion, and they will be looking to cap off everything with a nice bowl win here. The best bet to place in this game is on Utah to cover the spread here as they have a good chance of winning this game.
Utah Ohio State Prediction: Our NCAAF Pick for Saturday, January 1, 2022 (5:00 pm ET start time) is Utah 35 OSU 27.
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NCAAF Betting Trends
Utah Utes: 15-7 ATS in a bowl game. 38-21 ATS as an underdog of 3.5 to 10 points. 68-39 ATS as an underdog. 8-3 ATS as a neutral field underdog. 35-17 ATS when playing with 2 weeks or more of rest. 17-6 ATS after playing a conference game. 6-1 ATS off 2 or more consecutive unders.
Ohio State Buckeyes: 10-18 O/U in a bowl game. 7-16 O/U as a neutral field favorite. 14-24 O/U in games played on a neutral field. 1-6 O/U off a double digit upset loss as a favorite of 6 more points. 1-5 O/U after being outrushed by 150 or more yards last game. 1-6 O/U after allowing 42 points or more last game.
Key Injuries
Utah Utes: J. Kump (OL) Out indefinitely - Leg injury. K. Markgraf (LS) out for season - Undisclosed injury. V. Moala (DT) out for season - Undisclosed injury.
Ohio State Buckeyes: M. Teague III (RB) Prob Jan 1 - Undisclosed injury. S. Banks (CB) Ques Jan 1 - Undisclosed injury. J. McKenzie (DT) Out indefinitely - Undisclosed injury.
Notable Quotes
"Our mantra after the tragedy was we're not going to get over it, but we'll get through it. I believe our guys really did that and I couldn't be more proud of them." - Kyle Whittingham on his team’s win against Oregon in the Pac-12 Conference Championship game.
"I feel awful. I just got done talking to the team, and when you work this game 365 days out of the year and you come up short, it's a failure. It hurts. It hurts a lot." - Ryan Day after their loss against Michigan in their last game.
Starting Lineups
Utah Utes
WR Vele, Devaughn
WR Solomon Enis
WR Covey, Britain
TE Fotheringham, Cole
TE Brant Kuithe
QB Rising, Cameron
RB Thomas, Tavion
FB Niumatalolo, Ali'i
Ohio State Buckeyes
WR Wilson, Garrett
WR Chris Olave
WR Jaxon Smith-Njigba
TE Ruckert, Jeremy
QB Stroud, C.J.
RB Henderson, TreVeyon
Statistical Leaders
Utah Utes
Passing: C. Rising (2279)
Rushing: T. Thomas (1041)
Receiving: B. Kuithe (534)
Touchdowns: T. Thomas (20)
Ohio State Buckeyes
Passing: C. Stroud (3862)
Rushing: T. Henderson (1172)
Receiving: J. Smith-Njigba (1259)
Touchdowns: T. Henderson (19)
Coaches:
Utah Utes: Kyle Whittingham (18th season)
Ohio State Buckeyes: Ryan Day (4th season)
Amedeus Mastrangelo
About the Author:
Amedeus Mastrangelo has been heavily wagering on all sports for years and plays just about everything, including sides, totals, favorites, underdogs, against the spread, alternative spreads, first half, second half, player props, and futures. The bottom line is, if Mastrangelo can see an edge in any way shape or form, then he's going to take advantage.
