The top legal betting sites favor the Michigan Wolverines over the Michigan State Spartans, even if recent history doesn’t. The Wolvies are 7.5-point favorites against the Spartans, although the latter have dominated the rivalry as of late. Michigan State has won the Paul Bunyan Trophy in eight of the last 10 meetings with Michigan. Their average margin of victory in those eight games has 13.2 points. Last season, the Spartans upset the Wolverines 14-10 as 12.5-point road dogs, though they didn’t cover. Though if it comes to that, Michigan is 0-10 ATS in their last 10 encounters with Michigan State.
More generally speaking, the Wolvies are 0-17 SU when visiting ranked teams (UM is No. 6; MSU is No. 24). “It is getting old,” senior defensive tackle Lawrence Marshall said. “We’re just trying to win this game and shush everybody up. I’m tired of everybody talking about Michigan not being where we was [sic] before. And as a team, we want to change that.”
Betting Michigan
Running back Karan Higdon had his fifth consecutive 100 rusher in UM’s 38-13 win over Wisconsin last weekend. The Wolverines’ defense held the Badgers to 283 yards from scrimmage. Opposing QB Alex Hornibrook completed just seven passes and was intercepted on two occasions.
Michigan is 6-3 ATS when favored by at least five points by the top online betting sites.
Betting Michigan State
The Spartans used the Penn State Nittany Lions as a stepping stone to return to the AP Top 25. And as far as stepping stones go, PSU is like the Rock of Gibraltar.
Starting QB Brian Lewerke has attempted 225 passes this season. And it figures, since MSU’s ground attack is negligible.
The Spartans are 13-4 ATS when the top online betting sites have them as dogs of at least five points. But they are 0-4 ATS in their last four home games.
Michigan Wolverines at Michigan State Spartans NCAA Football Betting Preview
- Date: October 20
- Time: 12:00 p.m. ET
- Venue: Spartan Stadium, East Lansing, MI
Lines from MyBookie.ag:
- Michigan Wolverines -7½ (-105) 41 (-110) -320
- Michigan State Spartans +7½ (-115) 41 (-110) +260
Wolverines Team Stats
Offense
- 1 points per game (23rd)
- Zero total yards per game (51st)
- 0 passing yards per game (93rd)
- Rushing yards per game Zero (28th)
Defense
- 0 total yards allowed per game (2nd)
- 1 passing yards allowed per game (1st)
- 9 rushing yards allowed per game (15th)
Michigan State Team Stats
Offense
- 2 points per game (84th)
- 5 total yards per game (79th)
- 5 passing yards per game (33rd)
- 0 rushing yards per game (114th)
Defense
- 7 total yards allowed per game (37th)
- 3 passing yards allowed per game (117th)
- 3 rushing yards allowed per game (1st)
Betting Trends
- Michigan is 4-2 ATS in its last 6 games
- Michigan is 5-0 SU in its last 5 games
- The total has gone OVER in 4 of Michigan’s last 5 games
- Michigan State is 2-4 ATS in its last 6 games
- Michigan State is 7-2 SU in its last 9 games
- The total has gone OVER in 6 of Michigan State’s last 8 games
On paper, the Wolvies are better than the Spartans, especially on defense. Michigan is No. 1 against the pass, which can come in handy against MSU’s 270+ passing yards per game. The Spartans are horrible against the pass, which could help UM’s horrible passing game to improve. Not that they’ve needed a strong passing game to win six in a row. The only edge MSU has going into this one is their No. 1 run defense. And tons of momentum after upsetting Penn State. Without evidence to the contrary, though we have to chalk that up to a fluke. And eat the chalk and the points on this one.
