Ohio State vs Penn State: 3 Player Props and Best Bet for Saturday, November 2

The Big Ten will have a showcase contest at noon on Saturday as the No. 4 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes (6-1) head to Happy Valley for a showdown with the No. 3 ranked Penn State Nittany Lions (7-0).

Ohio State’s lone loss this season was a close contest against No. 1 ranked Oregon in October. The Buckeyes have avenged that loss – but barely – by beating Nebraska 21-17 last week despite having a bye.

Penn State did not struggle to put away Wisconsin last week, defeating the Badgers to reach this contest with an unblemished mark. The Nittany Lions have only had one close call this season after their sloppy start against the USC Trojans earlier in October.

Will the Buckeyes storm into Happy Valley to give the Nittany Lions their first taste of sadness – and a loss – on Saturday? We’ll cover that plus our top three player prop bets for this Saturday’s Big Ten showdown between these top five programs.

Ohio State Buckeyes QB Will Howard OVER 230.5 Passing Yards

Ohio State landed the best quarterback in the transfer portal when the team nabbed Will Howard this offseason. The 6-foot-4 senior signal-caller has been solid this season, completing 74 percent of his passes for 1,795 yards and 17 touchdowns against only four interceptions. He’s also ran for 91 yards and five touchdowns for the Buckeyes.

Penn State’s defense has been a stingy one, allowing no player to achieve the player prop mark Howard is receiving this season. Usually, there’d be little reason to believe Howard would be the first to do so, but he’ll need to be on his game to keep this one close. Expect him to at least eclipse this mark on Saturday.

Penn State Nittany Lions RB Kaytron Allen OVER 60.5 Rushing Yards

Penn State has been a run-first team this season, using the junior running back tandem of Nicholas Singleton and Kaytron Allen. Allen is the team’s leading rusher as he’s averaging over 5.0 yards per carry this season despite scoring only four touchdowns in 2024.

Expect Allen – who has eclipsed the 60.5-yard mark in four of his past five games – to again cover this player prop bet. Oregon proved that Ohio State is susceptible to opponents’ run games already this season.

Ohio State Buckeyes WR Jeremiah Smith OVER 70.5 Receiving Yards

Despite being a true freshman, 6-foot-3 wide receiver Jeremiah Smith is one of the best players in the country at his position. The Ohio State receiver has 35 catches for 623 yards and eight touchdowns this year.

The Buckeyes’ leading receiver has finished with 70 yards or more in every single contest his team has played. There’s little reason to believe the Nittany Lions will stop him from producing at least that many yards on Saturday for him to cover this player prop bet.

Best Bet: Penn State (+3.5)

We’re calling for an outright win here even though Penn State head coach James Franklin has only one win against Ohio State in his career at the school. The Nittany Lions are the better team this year.

Defensively, Ohio State has proven it struggles to stop the run. And offensively, the Buckeyes do not have the talent up front to slow down Penn State’s rushers. This could get ugly late, and expect calls for Ohio State head coach Ryan Day’s job after this contest.