Ohio St. QB Braxton Miller out for the season

Published on Tuesday, 8/19/14, at 1:18 p.m. Eastern.

By Brian Edwards

According to multiple reports, Ohio St. quarterback Braxton Miller will miss the entire 2014 season with a shoulder injury sustained making a routine pass at Monday’s practice in Columbus.

Miller has offseason surgery on the shoulder after injuring it in an Orange Bowl loss to Clemson. Redshirt freshman QB J.T. Barrett is expected to become the starter. Barrett was ranked by most recruitniks in the Top 10-12 range in terms of dual-threat QBs coming out of the 2013 class. However, he tore his ACL as a senior in high school, so he hasn’t seen live game action since early October of 2012.

Ohio St. has an extremely soft schedule, but it does have to play against Bud Foster’s Va. Tech defense in Week 2. The game is at The ‘Shoe, however.

The impact of Miller’s loss has already been felt in Nevada. Many books have adjusted Ohio St.’s odds to win the national title from 10/1 to 40/1. The Buckeyes’ season win total remains at 10.5, but the odds yesterday were shaded to the ‘over’ at a price in the -160 range (risk $160 to win $100). Now the price to take the ‘over’ has moved into the +280 range (risk $100 to win $280).

In my opinion, the wager that gamblers should get bullish on now is Michigan St.’s season win total to go ‘over.’ Some books have the Spartans at nine, while others are at 9.5. With Sparty catching the Bucks in East Lansing, the only loss I see on the schedule for Michigan St. is that trip to Eugene in Week 2.