Urban Meyer Suspended: How are Ohio State’s Odds Affected?

• Ohio State has suspended head coach Urban Meyer for three games without pay
• We dive into how that will affect Ohio State’s playoff prospects

After an investigation into whether head coach Urban Meyer properly handled domestic violence allegations against former wide receivers coach Zach Smith, Ohio State announced that Meyer would serve a three-game suspension. What does that mean for Urban Meyer, for Ohio State, and for bettors?

Urban Meyer Suspension Details

• A three-game, “soft” suspension for Meyer

Urban Meyer has been suspended for the first three games of the season. Those games are against Oregon State, Rutgers, and TCU. You can read the full investigation report here.

The first game shouldn’t be a problem for Ohio State, even without Meyer:

*It might be a good time to get on this spread.

The Buckeyes should also be favored heavily against Rutgers, who are just a terrible football team. The real interesting point, however, will be the TCU game. It was the out-of-conference win Ohio State was planning on building its playoff resume on. Without the Meyer suspension, you’d expect the spread to be at about 11-13 points, although TCU is absolutely capable of an upset. Look for the spread to get down to about 6.5 points now, depending on how Ohio State performs under interim coach Ryan Day.

An important thing to note is that Meyer’s suspension will be a “soft” suspension. Meyer will be allowed to join the team after the Oregon State game, but won’t be able to coach on the field for the TCU or Rutgers games. Since winning the Rutgers and Oregon State games more or less comes down to making sure the teams gets to the stadium on time with all their equipment, the only real consequence for Ohio State is that Meyer won’t be present for the TCU game.

 2018 National Championship Odds

Ohio State Playoff Odds

• Ohio State is still too short, so nothing’s changed there.

The Buckeyes are still heavy favorites to make the College Football Playoff, as well they should be. They’ll still likely be favored in every game they play, although the spread on that TCU game might get pretty tight.

Those odds, obviously, are a little too short, and were before Meyer’s suspension. Ohio State are likely to make a misstep at some point this season, as they did last year against Iowa. The playoff committee has also demonstrated that it’s absolutely willing to leave the Buckeyes at home. Lose the Penn State, Michigan State, or Michigan games, and the committee will gladly take three SEC teams, if they have to.

You can track Ohio State’s national championship odds over on our National Championship Odds Tracker, to see how exactly they react to this news.