In the grand scheme of the night, Ohio State's last-second touchdown meant very little in its victory over Northwestern on Saturday. The Buckeyes were already winning by four points, and all they needed to do in order to win the game was prevent the Wildcats from scoring a miracle touchdown.
Thanks to some sloppy play on Northwestern's part, Ohio State ended up with a touchdown on the final play that changed the final score from 34-30 to 40-30.
The last-second swing was meaningless for both teams, but it had huge implications in Las Vegas.
The Buckeyes were 5.5-point favorites coming into the night, and because Ohio State is undefeated and the game was featured on ABC, there was a lot of money riding on the contest. So much dough, in fact, that when Ohio State scored the touchdown and covered the spread, insiders estimated that there was a $100 million swing from bookies to bettors.
That last-second #OhioSt TD vs #Northwestern, prompted an estimated swing from bookies to bettors of $100 million worldwide, per @RJinVegas
— Bruce Feldman (@BFeldmanCBS) October 7, 2013
In case you missed it, here's the final play.
As he is wont to do, ABC's play-by-play man Brent Musburger referenced the spread when he noted that "there are some folks who are celebrating and other folks who are saying, 'you gotta be kidding me.'"
The Buckeyes' backdoor cover was so bizarre that some people suspected foul play. But Todd Fuhrman, a gambling analyst in Las Vegas, told the Chicago Tribune he didn't think there was anything suspicious about the way the game ended.
"I wouldn't call the outcome funny because there's nothing OSU did that was out of the ordinary," Fuhrman said. "They pounced on a loose ball after Northwestern's failed lateral attempts. It just happened to turn a non-cover into a horrific bad beat for Wildcat bettors."
