Vegas sets the betting odds for Michigan’s season opener at Minnesota

The Big Ten football season is officially set to kick off next weekend after a long pause during a COVID-19-altered landscape. We are one step closer to games taking place with Vegas odds now being placed on the board for the Week 1 games, headlined by the Michigan Wolverines taking on the Minnesota Gophers.

According to odds released Thursday from BetOnline.ag, Michigan opens as a 2.5-point underdog for its trip to the Twin Cities with the Little Brown Jug on the line. Michigan’s struggles on the road against ranked opponents are well-documented to this point with the lone victory coming against Michigan State in East Lansing in 2018. They are 0-7 in all other ranked road games and 0-10 in the Harbaugh era as an underdog.

However, Michigan has dominated the Minnesota rivalry of late, having lost only twice to the Gophers since 1986. The Wolverines are 2-0 against Minnesota under Harbaugh with a Halloween win on the road in 2015 (29-26 W) and a home victory in PJ Fleck’s first season with the Gophers (33-10).

The Wolverines will likely come into the game as the higher-ranked of the two teams, as they are currently 19th in the AP Poll with Minnesota at 24.

Here are the other spreads for the opening week of games in the Big Ten:

• Illinois at Wisconsin (-23½)
• Nebraska at Ohio State (-21½)
• Rutgers at Michigan State (-11½)
• Penn State (-7) at Indiana
• Iowa (-2½) at Purdue
• Michigan at Minnesota (-2½)
• Maryland at Northwestern (-11)

Michigan is due for a road victory, right? Sound off in the comments below.