The Ohio State Buckeyes are 25-1 straight up and 15-11 against the spread over their last 26 games. The Buckeyes will try to string together another dominant regular season this year to win their second Big Ten championship in three years.
Big Ten championship odds 2016: Ohio State and Michigan are the betting favorites
Ohio State and Michigan are expected to battle for the Big Ten title and a spot in the College Football Playoff.
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Ohio State is a +175 favorite to win the Big Ten this season at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. Mired in a year-long quarterback controversy between Cardale Jones and J.T. Barrett, the Buckeyes were unable to consistently reach their potential on offense in 2015, which came to a head in a 17-14 home loss to Michigan State as a 14.5-point favorite on the college football betting lines.
With Barrett now uncontested for the starting job and a chip on the team’s shoulder, Ohio State will once again be a major contender for both a Big Ten and a national championship.
Michigan’s hire of Jim Harbaugh was expected to do wonders for the Wolverines’ football program, but nobody expected Harbaugh to work his magic as quickly as he did. The Wolverines transformed from a middling team into a playoff contender overnight, eventually finishing the 2015 campaign with an impressive 9-3 SU and 6-6 ATS record.
With a full offseason to work with the program, Harbaugh could take Michigan to the next level in 2016 and is a +175 co-favorite to win the Big Ten title this season.
How about the rest?
The Michigan State Spartans (+700 to win the Big Ten championship) have a handful of holes to fill from last year’s 12-2 SU and 5-8-1 ATS team, including the role of starting quarterback. But Michigan State has won the Big Ten title twice in the last three seasons, and Mark Dantonio routinely gets the best out of his players and exceeds expectations.
The Spartans are 9-5 SU and 11-2-1 ATS in their last 14 games as an underdog per the OddsShark College Football Database. Bettors looking for value outside of the top two should like the price on the Spartans.
Rounding out the odds to win the Big Ten in 2016 are Iowa (+900), Nebraska (+900), Wisconsin (+1400), Penn State (+1800), Northwestern (+3300), Minnesota (+4000), Indiana (+5000), Illinois (+5000), Maryland (+5000), Purdue (+10000) and Rutgers (+10000). Iowa went 12-2 SU and 7-6-1 ATS last season.
