Vegas odds revealed for Michigan vs. Michigan State showdown

Fans of the Michigan Wolverines were hoping for a blow out in the first two weeks of the 2020 season, they just did not necessarily expect it to come in the opener at Minnesota. With the Michigan State Spartans coming to town this week for the home debut in Ann Arbor, oddsmakers are expecting more of the same.

According to Vegas Insider, Michigan opened as a 23-point favorite over the Spartans, though the line moved to 24 shortly after being posted and crept up to 25.5 as of this posting. The over/under for total points scored is set at 53 points.

Michigan leads the all-time series against Michigan State by a margin of 71-36-5 (38-27-2 since the adoption of the Paul Bunyan Trophy). Head coach Jim Harbaugh is 3-2 against the Spartans since arriving at Michigan, but has the recent edge having won three of the last four. This will be the first time that he matches up with MSU’s new coach Mel Tucker.

The Spartans were expected to struggle after Mark Dantonio abruptly left and Tucker inherited the mess that he left behind. The pandemic set them back even more and those struggles manifested themselves in the first game of the season in a 38-27 home loss to Rutgers. It was the Scarlet Knights’ first Big Ten victory since the 2017 season.

Michigan’s first week went the exact opposite direction, scoring a blowout win over Minnesota by a score of 49-24.

Saturday’s game from Michigan Stadium will be another nationally-televised broadcast set for 12 p.m. ET on FOX.