Michigan at Illinois odds: Early point spread released, How to Watch

As the college football season rages on, the Michigan Wolverines will travel to Champaign in Week 8 to face the Illinois Fighting Illini in a Big Ten Conference clash.

Ahead of the showdown, FanDuel Sportsbook has released the early point spread for the showdown, and the Wolverines are favored by 2.5 points at the moment. Additionally, the over/under has been set at 41.5 points for the conference battle.

Michigan is sitting at 4-2 on the season at the moment, but they’re hoping to come out of their bye week strong for the stretch run of the season. The Wolverines fell to Washington their last time on the field, as they couldn’t best the Huskies in a rematch of last season’s national title game.

Meanwhile, Illinois has been one of the surprise teams in college football, and they’re looking to make some noise in the Big Ten. Their only loss was on the road to Penn State by two touchdowns, but they’ve amassed a bevy of quality wins, and they’ll be hoping for another against the Wolverines next weekend.

The series between Michigan and Illinois will gain another chapter in Week 8, as their rivalry dates back to 1898. Over that time, the Wolverines lead the series with a resounding 72-23-2 record, and currently possess a six game win streak. We’ll see if the Fighting Illini can buck the trend in 2024.

How to Watch Michigan at Illinois

Time: Saturday 10/19 | 3:30 ET
Channel: CBS/Paramount+, FuboTV (streaming)
Location: Memorial Stadium – Champaign, IL

Moreover, Jack Tuttle will make the start at quarterback for Michigan against Illinois in Week 8, head coach Sherrone Moore announced earlier this week.

Tuttle is in his sixth season of college football and was 10 of 18 throwing for 98 yards with a touchdown and an interception during last weekend’s loss to Washington. He beat out Alex Orji for the starting spot when the Wolverines return to action.

“I think right now he gives us the best chance to win,” Moore said. “We’ll continue to process that as an offense, as a team, but that looks like the direction we’re heading.”

Following the national championship rematch in Week 6, Moore backed Tuttle to be the Michigan starting quarterback moving forward, praising him for how he played in the game and the chance he gives Michigan to succeed moving forward.

Now, it appears that he’ll be the starter moving forward. Moore revealed he may be heading in this direction with Tuttle after the loss. 

“I think we’ll see,” Moore said on Saturday. “We’ll watch the film. Feel good about the way he played. Feel good about what he did. So, right now, if we had to play tomorrow, I’d say Tuttle would be the starting quarterback. Want to build stuff for us to be successful with him and us to be successful with Donovan [Edwards] and Kalel [Mullings] and the rest of our guys. So, feel like he gives us a great chance to win and we’ll just clean up the turnovers and go from there.”

Tuttle is a career backup, never passing for more than 500 yards in a season or throwing for more than 90 attempts. He transferred into the program ahead of the 2023 championship season after spending four years with Indiana — but is a 1,000-yard career passer. 

Despite his inexperience during in-game situations, it seems that Moore has confidence in the longtime college quarterback moving forward against Illinois.

On3’s Barkley Truax contributed to this article.