College Football 2019: Where to Watch Ohio State vs. Northwestern, TV Channel, Live Stream and Odds

19 Oct 2019

Newsweek

College Football 2019 Where to Watch Ohio State vs Northwestern TV Channel Live Stream and Odds

Ohio State looks to improve to 7-0 when it takes on Northwestern in a rematch of last year's Big Ten Championship Game.

After a bye week, Ohio State returns to action on Friday when it travels to Illinois to face Northwestern in a rematch of last season Big Ten Championship Game.

The Buckeyes are 6-0 so far this season but lost a spot in the Associated Press Top 25 poll, slipping to fourth behind national champions Clemson, who were themselves overtaken in second place by LSU.

Despite losing one place in the rankings, Ohio State has looked every bit the playoff contender everyone expected it to be this season.

The Buckeyes share the top of the Big Ten with Penn State, Minnesota and Wisconsin, who have all won their first six games of the season.

With an average of 534.5 yards and 49.3 points per game, Ohio State ranks sixth in the nation in total offense and fourth in terms of points scored.

In his first season in Columbus since transferring from Georgia, Justin Fields has hit the ground running and has established himself as one of the best quarterbacks in the country.

Through six games, the Georgia native has passed for 1,298 passing yards and 18 touchdowns with just one interception and has also rushed for 283 yards and eight touchdowns.

Wildcats coach Pat Fitzgerald admitted his team faced an uphill task to stop Fields on Friday.

"He's playing outstanding football," he said in his press conference on Monday.

"He's doing a great job playing within the framework of what coach [Ryan] Day wants him to do, and he's taking it to the next level being able to be really explosive with his feet and being really smart when he's doing that."

To put Fields' performances in the season into context, he ranks sixth nation-wide in quarterback efficiency with a 187.54 rating, while the three Northwestern quarterbacks combined have a rating of 79.9.

If the figure illustrates how dominant Fields has been, it also speaks volumes for the struggles the Wildcats have endured so far.

Since reaching the Big Ten Championship Game last season, Northwestern has gone back at a rate of knots and now sits sixth in the Big Ten West with a 1-4 record on the back of a three-game losing streak.

The Wildcats, who also come off a bye, average just 14.4 points per game and have scored more than 15 points just once so far this season.

That is unlikely to change this weekend, as they face a defensive unit that ranks second in the country in terms of points conceded and yards allowed per game—8.8 and 234 respectively.

However, as Georgia showed last week in its loss to South Carolina, dangers are always lurking in college football and Ohio State coach Ryan Day warned his team against taking the eye off the ball.

"We all know what happens when you lose focus," he said in his press conference on Monday.

"You don't take anything for granted. You don't make any assumptions."

Here's all you need to know ahead of Friday.