With Week 5 largely winding down, Wisconsin fans are looking ahead to their next game coming off the Badgers' first bye of the season. They will make the trek to Ann Arbor to take on the Michigan Wolverines in the first viewing window of next week. As expected, the Badgers are a massive underdog in this game. What may be a bit eye-opening is how massive the opening point spread is.
FanDuel Sportsbook has the Badgers getting a whopping 15.5 points on the road at Michigan. The over/under for this game is 41.5 points. The respective moneylines coming in are Wisconsin +580 and Michigan -880. After looking at the numbers, it is easy to see why ESPN's matchup predictor has the Badgers winning the game 10.9 percent of the time and Michigan winning the other 89.1 percent.
This road date feels ominous just like the road game at Alabama two weeks ago did. The Badgers could not do anything defensively to contain the vaunted Alabama aerial attack. Let's not forget that Danny O'Neil got the start in that game. What is interesting is the point spread was higher than the 15.5 mark we are seeing entering this game at Michigan. Does it mean Alabama is better than them?
Regardless, Michigan is going to be laying multiple touchdowns against any awful Big Ten opponent.
Wisconsin is not getting any respect from oddsmakers vs. Michigan
Look. Until things change, expect for Wisconsin to be getting all the points in the world whenever they play anyone worth their weight in salt in Big Ten play. The problem with that for the Badgers is they are not going to be favored in any game they play the rest of the way, barring some first bye, come to Jesus sort of moment. Right now, Wisconsin is playing like a bottom-tier Big Ten program.
Overall, with the way that Wisconsin has played of late, should they not be getting more points than just the 15.5 they are receiving from the oddsmakers vs. Michigan? Surely, this line will go more in Michigan's favor as the week goes along. Again, it all about getting equal money on both sides at the end of the day. Even if the Badgers are getting this many points, could you stomach betting on them?
Ultimately, this is how the other half lives. Michigan is a quality Big Ten opponent, but the Wolverines are not expect to contend for a national championship under Sherrone Moore with a true freshman quarterback. This is not a team led by Jim Harbaugh or quarterbacked by J.J. McCarthy. If that were the case, who even knows what the point spread would be in this game? Wisconsin may be in trouble.
There may only be eight more of these games, so we will have to find a way to make the best of them.