The first game for Ohio State without Julian Sayin as the starting quarterback was far from what anyone expected. The Buckeyes looked unprepared, sloppy, and undisciplined en route to a 30-18 loss in L.A. Now, the Buckeyes have little room for error if they want to make it to Indy for the Big Ten Championship game and find themselves in the College Football Playoff.

Next up is a game against a talented, albeit underperforming, Oregon squad that's also looking to make a statement and find a way to get back in the picture in the conference and nationally. The oddsmakers have Ohio State as a modest favorite to win on the banks of the Olentangy, but we also like to check in with the ESPN "matchup predictor" to see what it says.

According to the analytics ESPN uses to predict the chances of victory, Ohio State has an 83.2% chance of beating Oregon. That's good and fine, but we have to remember that this same model had the Buckeyes with a significant chance of beating USC on the road, and that didn't turn out so well.

So far, the ESPN "matchup predictor" has been right with every game except for the one last week, so we'll see how it all goes on Saturday. Hopefully, the worldwide leader has this one right, and we can be celebrating a much-needed win to get things back on track.

Since these analytics are updated by game results only, there's no chance of this percentage changing, but the Buckeyes will still need to execute at a high level and take their defense on the road.

The game is set to kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET on CBS, and we'll have more on the game leading up to Saturday, and be around during and after as well for extensive coverage.