Ohio State face Michigan for Big Ten title

Nov 16, 2007 By Rob Gerein

The Ohio State Buckeyes battle the Michigan Wolverines for the Big Ten title Saturday afternoon at The Big House in Ann Arbor.

Michigan and Ohio State have squared off on the last Saturday of the Big Ten season every year since 1935, and this will mark the 25th year the teams have decided the Big Ten champion.

Bet the Michigan-Ohio State game at Sportbet, which has Buckeyes as a 4-point favorite and the over/under at 49.

The winner of this Big Ten clash earns a berth in the Rose Bowl.

The Buckeyes (10-1 SU, 6-4 ATS, 6-1 Big Ten) had been hoping for a different bowl – the BCS Title game, to be exact – but saw those hopes vanish when they were upset 28-21 as 16-point favorites last weekend by the Illinois Fighting Illini.

Ohio State went undefeated in the regular season in 2006 and made it to the BCS showdown, only to get hammered 41-14 by the Florida Gators.
 
Ohio State won its first 10 games and held the top spot in the BCS standings before losing to Illinois last week.

The loss ended the Buckeyes' streak of 20 straight conference wins, a Big Ten record. It was their first defeat in 29 regular season games, dating to an October, 2005 loss at Penn State.

Michigan (8-3 SU, 6-4 ATS, 6-1 Big Ten) was ranked No. 5 in the Preseason Top 25 poll, but saw its national title hopes die early when it suffered a shocking home loss to Appalachian State, followed by a loss to Oregon.

Written off two weeks into the season, the Wolverines bounced back and won their next eight games before losing 37-21 to the Wisconsin Badgers last week, as 3-point favorites.

Michigan leads the series with Ohio State 57-40-6 and 30-18-4 in Ann Arbor. But over the past six games head-to-head, Ohio State is 5-1 SU. The total has gone over in five of Michigan's past six games against Ohio State.

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