Preseason Big Ten football odds show the value of shopping around at different Michigan sports betting apps before you place a wager.
And a look at recent history shows that sometimes those preseason odds are accurate – and sometimes they are not.
BetMichigan.com set out to discover how accurate Big Ten preseason odds have been since 2008, when they are available at SportsOddsHistory.com. Here are the results.
Michigan, Michigan State Have Defied Odds
Here’s a stat that Michigan sports betting and college football enthusiasts might not expect: Michigan and Michigan State have been preseason wagering favorites to win the league just once each since 2008.
The Wolverines went into the 2019 season atop the odds board in the Big Ten at +160 but the Wolverines’ archrival to the south, Ohio State, wound up winning the league.
And in 2014, the Spartans, coming off of a conference championship, were co-favorites along with Wisconsin at +240 entering the campaign. But the Buckeyes, who had +300 odds coming in, not only won the Big Ten but went on to win the national championship, the last B1G team to run the table in the College Football Playoff.
In 2021, people in the state using Michigan sportsbook promos could have gotten the Wolverines at +2500 odds before the season. Coach Jim Harbaugh’s squad did just that, defeating Ohio State for the first time since 2011 on the way to the Big Ten title.
Then in 2022, the Wolverines defied the oddsmakers again, capping an undefeated regular season by beating the Buckeyes in Columbus, 45-23, then getting past Purdue 43-22 in the league title game.
Michigan used their conference titles as a springboard to clinch spots in the CFP in both 2021 and 2022.
Michigan State has also upended preseason predictions before, winning conference titles in 2013 (after entering the season with +700 odds) and 2015 (+800 preseason odds).
2023 Big Ten Preseason Odds
Entering this fall, Michigan is the co-favorite at BetMGM Michigan Sportsbook to win the league, with the Wolverines and Buckeyes both at +180 odds as of Monday morning.
Despite their back-to-back conference titles, Michigan is the slight underdog in Big Ten football betting at several other major operators, just behind OSU.
As for Michigan State, the Spartans have odds that differ quite widely among major sports betting operators.
Again as of Monday, the best odds to be found on the Spartans to win the 2023 Big Ten championship are +15000. That number can be found at BetMGM Sportsbook Michigan, and also for customers in the Great Lakes State using the DraftKings Sportsbook Michigan promo code.
Have sportsbooks accurately set odds for another Michigan-Ohio State showdown, or can MSU overcome the odds as the program has in the past?
