Early Michigan odds: 2024 Point spreads released for Wolverines vs. Ohio State, Texas, Washington

Things are likely to be very different for the defending national champions in 2024. Gone from Michigan are the starting quarterback, star running back and, potentially, the head coach.

As such, the Wolverines aren’t favored to win all of their games on the 2024 slate, which features a spate of big-time opponents as the Big Ten adds four West Coast teams. And it’s a far cry from the cupcake schedule that shook out for much of the 2023 season.

Right now, lines are out for for three games on Michigan’s schedule, via FanDuel’s sportsbook:

• vs. Texas (-1.5) on Sept. 7
• at Washington (+11.5) on Oct. 5
• at Ohio State (-6) on Nov. 30

Unsurprisingly, the Buckeyes and Longhorns — two teams returning plenty of talent — are slight-to-solid favorites.

Texas most notably brings back starting quarterback Quinn Ewers after he led the Longhorns to a College Football Playoff berth for the first time. He’ll be playing behind a veteran offensive line and the current Texas coaching staff has had no trouble cycling in top-shelf talent at the skill positions and on defense via high school recruiting and the transfer portal.

Ohio State brought in a transfer quarterback in Will Howard and running back Quinshon Judkins and returns oodles of production from the 2023 team that was 11-0 heading into Week 13. The Buckeyes defense should be particularly nasty with a blend of high-level talent and experience coming back.

And the national championship rematch in October lost a fair bit of luster with Huskies head coach Kalen DeBoer taking off for the SEC and the roster shaking up after that departure. New Washington head coach Jedd Fisch is a former Michigan assistant coach, though.

The Wolverines are also wildcards at this point in the calendar, too. Predicting who will be the head coach for Week 1 is a difficult task and Michigan will also be starting someone else at quarterback, rebuilding the offensive line and re-shaping the skill positions on offense. The defense retained a solid amount of talent, but the depth will take a significant drop off with NFL departures.

Plus, even if Jim Harbaugh remains the Michigan coach for the 2024 season and beyond, the NCAA could hand down a suspension that sees him sidelined to start the season and likely miss the Texas matchup — and perhaps more.

For now, though, the defending national champions appear to have an uphill climb to repeating the feat.