Early point spreads released for Michigan football 2024 games: Wolverines are underdogs in three tilts

Michigan Wolverines football has much to replace on its roster and coaching staff after winning the 2023 national championship, but the Maize and Blue are motivated to win back-to-back titles.

DraftKings Sportsbook places the Wolverines’ chances to win it all again at +2500, tied for the eighth-best odds in the country, behind Georgia (+320), Ohio State (+425), Texas (+700), Oregon (+900), Alabama (+1400), Ole Miss (+1500) and LSU (+1500). U-M is tied with Florida State, Notre Dame and Penn State at +2500.

The national championship game will be held Jan. 20, 2025 at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, capping off the first-ever 12-team College Football Playoff. DraftKings gives Michigan a better chance to make the 12-team field (-120) than not (-110).

The Wolverines have won the last three Big Ten titles but aren’t favored to do so again in 2024. They have the fourth-best odds to take home the conference crown, behind Ohio State (+160), Oregon (+220) and Penn State (+500). The Buckeyes haven’t won the league since 2020, Penn State hasn’t done it since 2016 and Oregon is a newcomer from the Pac-12.

Michigan’s over/under for total wins is 9.

DraftKings released early point spreads for seven Michigan games, pegging the Maize and Blue as underdogs in three contests — Sept. 7 vs. Texas, Nov. 2 vs. Oregon and Nov. 30 at Ohio State.

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Aug. 31: Michigan (-22) vs. Fresno State

Michigan will open the season with a night game against Fresno State (7:30 p.m. on NBC). The Bulldogs ranked 21st nationally in passing offense last season and return the 14th-most offensive production in the nation per ESPN.

Fresno State has won nine or more games each of the last two seasons, including 10-win campaigns in 2021 and 2022. Head coach Jeff Tedford is entering his third season at the helm after taking over for now-Alabama coach Kalen DeBoer.

Sept. 7: Michigan (+3) vs. Texas

Michigan hasn’t lost a home game with a full-capacity crowd since Nov. 30, 2019, but Vegas has the Wolverines as underdogs against Texas.

Despite losing a slew of talented defenders, Texas is more of a known commodity at this point than Michigan, given that it returns quarterback Quinn Ewers, who completed 69 percent of his passes for 3,479 yards and 22 touchdowns last season.

Sept. 21: Michigan (-11) vs. USC

USC is coming off a disappointing 8-5 season in 2023, and things won’t get any easier with the Trojans joining the Big Ten. Their first-ever league game in their new conference will be at The Big House against Michigan, a new venue for the series between the two storied programs. Michigan is 4-6 versus USC with all 10 meetings coming on neutral fields.

USC will have a new starting quarterback and a new-look defense under coordinator D’Anton Lynn, a former Baltimore Ravens assistant who runs a similar scheme ot what Michigan has implemented.

Oct. 5: Michigan (-9) at Washington

Michigan at Washington will be a rematch of the Jan. 8 national title game, but it won’t be Jim Harbaugh vs. DeBoer. This time, it’ll be Sherrone Moore vs. Jedd Fisch, a former Michigan assistant coach who was previously the head man at Arizona.

For as much as Michigan lost after last season, Washington suffered even more defections. The Huskies had 10 NFL Draft picks and saw 29 players transfer out. The first year of Fisch’s era could be tricky in Washington’s first season in the Big Ten.

Oct. 26: Michigan (-24.5) vs. Michigan State

Michigan will take on in-state foe Michigan State at the end of October, and the Maize and Blue have dominated the series over the last two years, winning 29-7 in 2022 and 49-0 in 2023.

Michigan State is another team with a first-year head man in Jonathan Smith, who was hired from Oregon State. The Spartans have very little roster continuity, especially on offense, ranking 103rd nationally in returning production on that side of the ball.

Nov. 2: Michigan (+2.5) vs. Oregon

Oregon brought in a new starting quarterback from Oklahoma in Dillon Gabriel (3,660 yards and 30 touchdowns in 2023) and has ranked top 11 in the On3 Industry team recruiting rankings each of the last three cycles, including a No. 4 finish in 2024. Head coach Dan Lanning has gone 22-5 in two seasons at the helm in Eugene.

Both teams will be tested by the time they square off. Oregon has a challenging tilt against Ohio State Oct. 12.

Nov. 30: Michigan (+10) at Ohio State

Michigan has won the last three meetings against bitter rival Ohio State, including two in blowout fashion as underdogs — 42-27 in 2021 and 45-23 in 2022. The latter was the Wolverines’ first win in Columbus since 2000. It took an epic performance to take down a loaded Buckeye team then, and Michigan will need to play a great game again to pull out a victory this November.

Ohio State head coach Ryan Day is 1-3 against Michigan, and the Buckeyes are coming off their third consecutive multi-loss campaign. Pressure it mounting, but Day has a talented roster that has the Buckeyes ranked top-two in many outlets’ early rankings.