What to expect when one top-10 team is a big favorite over another

Top 10 teams favored by 18-plus over another top-10 team since 1980:

1995: No. 2 Nebraska (-23.5) vs. No. 8 Kansas State, won 49-25
1995: No. 1 Nebraska (-25) vs. No. 10 Kansas, won 41-3
1996: No. 4 Nebraska (-18) vs. No. 5 Colorado, won 17-12
1999: No. 1 Florida State (-18) vs. No. 10 Georgia Tech, won 41-35
2000: No. 4 Florida State (-19.5) vs. No. 10 Clemson, won 33-14
2013: No. 3 Florida State (-21.5) vs. No. 7 Miami, won 41-14
2016: No. 1 Alabama (-18) vs. No. 6 Texas A&M, won 33-14
2019: No. 2 Ohio State (-20.5) vs. No. 9 Penn State, won 28-17
2020: No. 3 Ohio State (-21) vs. No. 9 Indiana, won 42-35
2020: No. 1 Alabama (-18.5) vs. No. 4 Notre Dame, won 31-14

https://www.espn.com/chalk/insider/story/_/id/32645589/will-ohio-state-roll-expect-one-top-10-team-big-favorite-another

As you would expect, the favored teams went 10-0 in these games. Average line: -20.4. Average score: 43-18. Only four covered, but three others nearly did. Only two games were decided by one score. The teams they vanquished were mostly quite good -- eight of them finished ranked, five in the top 10 -- but the lines were the lines for a reason.