Ohio State Buckeyes vs Wisconsin Badgers Prediction, Odds and Picks for Saturday, 10/18/25

The Ohio State Buckeyes and the Wisconsin Badgers couldn’t be going in more opposite directions right now. The reigning national champs are perfect 6-0 heading into Madison for their second consecutive road game after beating a ranked Illinois team 34-16. Meanwhile, the Badgers are 2-4 and have yet to beat a power conference opponent. In fact, Wisconsin has scored just 34 points combined in its last 4 games against Alabama, Maryland, Michigan and Iowa. Most recently, the Hawkeyes shut-out the Badgers in Madison last week 37-0, holding them to just 209 total yards of offense. 

Coach Luke Fickell is on thin ice in Madison, and it doesn’t help that starting QB Billy Edwards remains out after re-aggravating his Week 1 injury. Maybe he returns this weekend ahead of the brutal stretch of games Wisconsin has to endure to end the year, but I’m not entirely sold he would help this Wisconsin offense come to life against an Ohio State defense that is 2nd nationally in yards per play and third-down conversion rate on the season, while sitting top 6 in PPA per play and points per quality drive allowed since Week 3. For what it’s worth, Wisconsin’s offense ranks 134th and 135th, respectively, in those 2 aforementioned metrics over the last 5 weeks. 

Despite playing as the hosts, it figures to be a long day at the office for the Badgers yet again. There are certainly better spots to bet on Saturday, but if you have to have action on this game, the only way I could go is betting against what seems to be a lame-duck coach in Fickell. Laying nearly 4 touchdowns worth of points on the road is never a settling proposition, especially in a game between quite literally the 2 slowest-paced teams in the country on a seconds per play basis, but I expect multiple explosive plays from the Buckeyes to go for touchdowns – and I wouldn’t be surprised to see multiple Wisconsin turnovers leading to short fields for the Bucks. 

Ohio State vs Wisconsin prediction: Ohio State Buckeyes -25 (-115) at the time of publishing. Playable to -26. 

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