CINCINNATI +17.5 (Saturday) - Ohio State has been playing some excellent football, but this is their first road game of the season, and they will most likely be without their leading rusher, freshman sensation Maurice Clarett. The Buckeyes are only passing for 166.3 yards per game this season, so Clarett?s absence would be strongly felt. Ohio State has had some trouble on the road in recent years, so it will be interesting to see how they react in front of what should be a very raucous Cincinnati crowd at Paul Brown Stadium. The Bearcats are a dangerous team getting this many points simply because of their flare for the dramatic, as they are consistently involved in tight, exciting, high scoring games. This season has been no different, as they won 36-29 in overtime and then lost 35-32. They are averaging 410.5 total yards of offense per game, which is quite comparable to the Buckeyes? average of 417.3 total yards. The biggest edge that Ohio State has in this game is on rushing defense, as they allow only 73 rushing yards per game. Howevrer, Cincinnati does most of its damage though the air, averaging 281 yards passing, and I look for them to put more than enough points on the board to cover this big line.
