From a 10,000-foot perspective, it appears that Ohio State gets a little bit of respite this week against Illinois after getting a scare from a solid Indiana squad.

The folks in Vegas feel the same way as the Buckeyes are four-touchdown favorites heading into Saturday’s tilt. This has become pretty par for the course for Ohio State is routinely heavy favorites. Illinois is also familiar with this as the Illini know they’ve become frequent underdogs.

Peters isn’t wrong about being the underdog, especially in 2020 when Illinois was nearly a 20-point underdog against Wisconsin. It continued when the Illini were 7.5-point underdogs against Purdue in Week 2.

Illinois has yet to be favored, including the team’s most recent wins against Rutgers and Nebraska. Even though the Illini are riding that win streak, it’s not surprising that Illinois is such a heavy underdog.

Peters himself has been in and out of these games. He played in the Wisconsin loss but did not return until Saturday’s game against the Huskers where he went 18-for-25 for 205 yards and a touchdown.

This is true for a number of reasons, including the last meeting in 2017 when Ohio State blitzed Illinois, 52-14.

At this point, Lovie Smith’s squad has shown signs that the Illini should be taken more seriously, but there is still a lot of work to do.