Not even Ohio State is safe from garbage time.
Although the Buckeyes dominated for most of the game in a 34-10 win over Purdue yesterday, tragedy struck for OSU bettors in the final two minutes when the Boilermakers tossed a seven-yard touchdown pass for the last points of the afternoon. That score clipped Ohio State's lead to 24 points, spoiling an eighth cover this season for the Buckeyes and what would have been six in a row despite closing as lofty 29.5-point favorites. Yet, even after coming up short of the bookies' expectations, oddsmakers have lined Ohio State as even larger favorites against UCLA with the Buckeyes opening favored by 31.5 points next Saturday night.
The opening line has already dropped down to 30.5 at some books including Bet365 and FanDuel, while the total opened at 48.5 points and has held steady through Sunday morning. Although the Bruins only lost to Nebraska yesterday by a lone touchdown, it seems worth noting that the most recent road game for UCLA saw the team lose by 50 points to No. 2 Indiana in the final week of October.
Even as the current spread has already begun to shrink, it would easily serve as the largest expected scoring margin between the universities given their limited overall history with each other. Ohio State and UCLA have only faced each other twice since 1999 and next Saturday's game will serve as just the 10th meeting the schools have had since the 1961 season.
The 1999 game saw Ohio State win 42-20 and the Buckeyes successfully covered a 13-point spread while helping achieve an over of 51.5 points. Two years later, OSU suffered a defeat at UCLA by a 13-6 final score, but Ohio State got the win against the spread due to the Bruins closing as 7.5-point favorites. That contest closed with a point total projection of 49, which made the under an easy cash.
The Buckeyes now own a 7-2 ATS record this season after the letdown in garbage time yesterday. They have contributed to six unders taking shape opposite three overs across their 9-0 overall record.
Conversely, UCLA owns a 3-6 ATS mark for the 2025-26 campaign, enduring two stretches of three straight losses within such circumstances including its current streak. The Bruins have given rise to back-to-back overs in recent weeks and four overall for the year against five unders.
Ohio State will host UCLA in prime time next Saturday at 7:30 p.m. ET on NBC for the third and likely final night game at Ohio Stadium during the regular season.
