The Game ranks among the fiercest rivalries in all of sports and the winner of the Ohio State-Michigan game in recent years has usually wound up in contention for the national title. With big changes coming to both teams this season, who do the oddsmakers have as the early favorite?
On Saturday, Circa Sports released its early betting lines for dozens of marquee college football matchups this coming season. With The Game being held at Ohio Stadium this year, the Buckeyes were bound to get the early edge over the Wolverines.
As for the actual line, Circa Sports has set it at Ohio State by 10. That number feels a little high given that Michigan have beaten them by increasingly larger margins in each of their last three meetings.
But there are a lot of X-factors working against the Wolverines in this year’s meeting.
On top of the obvious loss of head coach Jim Harbaugh, the Wolverines have seen their starting quarterback, No. 1 running back and No. 1 wide receiver all leave for the NFL since the end of their 15-0 national title season.
That isn’t to say that Ohio State is going to look exactly the same either though. They’ll have a new starting quarterback with Kyle McCord now gone and have also seen all-world wide receiver Marvin Harrison Jr. leave for the NFL too.
Will Ohio State end their three-game skid against Michigan, or will the Wolverines prove that they simply have Buckeyes head coach Ryan Day’s number?
Related: Sherrone Moore Has Michigan Players Ready For Ohio State With Fiery Postgame Speech