Posted at 10:00 AM EST. Odds are subject to change.

Peden Stadium, Athens, OH

Streaming: ESPN+

Jacksonville St +115 over Ohio

6:00 PM EST. There is a convenient explanation available for both teams after Week 1. Ohio was hammered 49-21 by Nebraska, but hey, it was Nebraska. Jacksonville State destroyed Eastern Kentucky 49-7, but hey, it was Eastern Kentucky. See how that works? One team gets excused for getting blown out because of the opponent while the other gets virtually no credit for doing exactly what a good team is supposed to do against an inferior opponent. We're not suggesting Eastern Kentucky is Nebraska. We're suggesting Jacksonville State couldn't have done much more than it did, and we're not prepared to dismiss it simply because the opponent wasn't glamorous.

More importantly, Jacksonville State showed us something that makes this team considerably more dangerous. The Gamecocks have traditionally been associated with running the football, but Caden Creel threw for 327 yards and five touchdowns while completing 75% of his passes last week. Jacksonville State produced 526 yards of offense and had Eastern Kentucky buried by halftime. If Creel's development is legitimate, suddenly opponents aren't preparing for a one-dimensional offense anymore. A team already capable of being physical that can now consistently attack through the air becomes a much different proposition.

Meanwhile, Ohio just surrendered 49 points and more than 500 yards, and we're supposed to turn around one week later and trust the Bobcats as the superior team because they're back home and stepping down dramatically in class. Maybe they are, but we're not seeing enough separation between these teams to justify that assumption. Ohio was competitive for a half in Lincoln before Nebraska completely took over. Jacksonville State never gave its opponent a chance. We're not going to punish the Gamecocks for dominating the team that happened to be on their schedule.

We don't even need points here because we're taking Jacksonville State at +115 to win outright. The market still appears to be giving Ohio credit for its name, its home field and the quality of last week's opponent while treating Jacksonville State's performance as something that needs to be proven against better competition. Fair enough. Here's its opportunity. We see two teams much closer than the market suggests, except we're being offered plus money on the one coming off a performance in which virtually everything worked. We'll take the Gamecocks to win this one outright.

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