Ohio State vs. Marshall picks, predictions, Week 4 college football odds, lines

Expert picks and predictions for Ohio State vs. Marshall in this college football game.

Ohio State vs. Marshall picks, predictions / Adam Cairns/Columbus Dispatch / USA TODAY NETWORK

College football returns to the gridiron this weekend as Big Ten title and playoff favorite No. 3 Ohio State welcomes Sun Belt challenger Marshall in Week 4 action on Saturday.

Marshall checks in at 1-1 and off an open week after dropping a game to Virginia Tech, ranking just 83rd nationally in passing production but averages 203 yards rushing per game, 36th in FBS.

Ohio State has predictably walked in its first two games, out-scoring opponents 108 to 6, tied for 1st in the country in scoring defense and 5th in scoring offense, averaging 54 points.

Looking ahead to this week's matchup, let's check out the latest college football predictions from the Football Power Index computer projection model.

The model simulates every NCAA college football game 20,000 times and uses key analytics from both teams to predict outcomes based on a projected scoring margin per game.

Ohio State vs. Marshall picks, predictions

As expected, the models favor the Buckeyes in a big way.

Ohio State comes out as the projected winner in the vast majority 96.9 percent of simulations, or 19,380 of the computer's predictions.

That leaves Marshall as the expected winner in the remaining 3.1 percent of sims.

The model expects Ohio State to be 31.6 points better than Marshall on the same field.

But that wouldn't be enough to cover the spread this week.

That's because Ohio State is listed as the 40.5 point favorite against Marshall, according to the lines at FanDuel Sportsbook, which set the total at 51.5 points for the game.

Ohio State is first among Big Ten teams with a 78 percent chance to qualify for the College Football Playoff and is projected to win 11.1 games this season, according to the index.

Marshall ranks fifth in the Sun Belt with a 1.4 percent shot at the playoff and is projected to win 6.9 games.

College Football Power Index

Football Power Index (FPI) college football rankings and computer prediction model are a measure of team strength that predicts a team’s future performance. 

Rankings and scores predictions are based on 20,000 simulations of a team’s season and games, using a combination of key analytics, including scores to date, quality of opponents, team talent, recruiting, and a team’s schedule.

Teams are ranked not in order of talent like in other rankings, but by a projected point margin per game against an average team on a neutral field.

AP top 25 rankings

First-place votes in parentheses

1. Texas (35)
2. Georgia (23)
3. Ohio State (5)
4. Alabama
5. Ole Miss
6. Tennessee
7. Missouri
8. Miami
9. Oregon
10. Penn State
11. USC
12. Utah
13. Kansas State
14. Oklahoma State
15. Oklahoma
16. LSU
17. Notre Dame
18. Michigan
19. Louisville
20. Iowa State
21. Clemson
22. Nebraska
23. Northern Illinois
24. Illinois
25. Texas A&M

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Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

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