Illinois Fighting Illini at Ohio State Buckeyes

Illinois Fighting Illini visit Ohio State Buckeyes in NCAA Football on Saturday, September 26, 2026. Our model projects ILL 14 – OSU 40, a 26-point edge to Ohio State Buckeyes. DraftKings currently has OSU -27.5 with a total of 53.5.

The only inputs are final scores and schedule dates from the current and prior season, opponent-adjusted, plus the live DraftKings spread and total. 14 completed home-side and 13 completed away-side games are on file, worth 0.67 weighted games on the thinner side after recency decay and a discount on prior-season results. Because that history is graded severe, the projected score is blended 95% toward the DraftKings number of -27.5 / 54.5, which sat 21.322 points from what the completed scores alone implied.

This is a model projection, not an official tracked recommendation. The model rates it unrated, so no side is published and it is not eligible for a tracked pick or a Covered Select. Reasons on file: only 0.67 weighted games of history for the thinner side; team form is not measurable yet; score anchored 95% to the DraftKings number (-27.5 / 54.5); unrated: the history behind this projection is insufficient, so the score is a market-anchored projection rather than a recommendation.