Ohio State and Michigan will do battle this Saturday, but who’s the favorite to open?
Well, now, here’s something that would have made a lot of people turn their heads if they learned about it back in September.
This Saturday afternoon at Noon ET, we’ll be treated to another edition of maybe the most storied rivalry in the history of college football, Ohio State vs. Michigan. The Buckeyes will travel on the road to Ann Arbor to take on the Wolverines, and with the game six days away, the betting odds are out.
And in what may come as a shock to some out there, Michigan has opened as a -2.5 point favorite over the defending national champions.
Michigan opens -2.5 over Ohio State, Florida -1 over FSU, and Stanford -3.5 over Notre Dame on @5dimes.
— Clay Travis (@ClayTravis) November 22, 2015
Again, it may be a surprise to some, but when you think about some of the factors here, it might not be all that shocking.
To start off and state the obvious, the game is being played inside the Big House in Ann Arbor, which is not exactly the easiest place to play in the nation. Not to mention, this Michigan team under the direction of Jim Harbaugh in his first season at the helm has improved mightily in just one year, as they come into this year’s edition of “The Game” with a record of 9-2 on the season. So, this is no cupcake Michigan team by any means.
Then we have the case of this year’s Ohio State team. The Buckeyes were toying with disaster all season long, and it finally caught up with them on Saturday. The defending national champions suffered their first loss of the season at home, when Michigan State buried a last-second field goal to knock off the Buckeyes. This is clearly not the same Ohio State team that we saw tear through the postseason last year, and that was made pretty crystal clear on Saturday.
Whatever the outcome is, if Ohio State is going to get another win over Michigan, this time it will be considered an upset.