The Wisconsin Badgers enter the upcoming college football season as the oddsmakers choice to win the Big 10 Championship at -105 (risk $105.00 to win $100.00). The former Big 12 powerhouse Nebraska Cornhuskers are the second favorite at +175 and are followed by Penn State +375, Ohio State +625, Michigan State +850, Iowa +2000, Michigan +3000, Illinois +4000, Minnesota +7500 and Indiana +7500. The BCS Championship odds have the Badgers 25-1 to win the National Championship, with the favorites being Alabama at +500 ($100.00 wager would pay $500.00) and Oklahoma at +400. MGM Resorts
International Race & Sports in Las Vegas opened up the Badgers at over 9.5 wins +100 / under 9.5 wins -120, but money coming in on Wisconsin have offshore bookmakers moving the number to over 9.5 wins -140 / under 9.5 wins +110.
College football returns to Madison on Thursday and Wisconsin is currently favored by 35.0 over UNLV with a total of 56.0. Early action being reported from offshore bookmakers has the money coming in on both the Badgers and the over. Oddsmakers are expecting a huge year from Wisconsin, but they have failed to cover their last three home openers as big favorites. Even with the 0-3 slide and a new quarterback leading the offense, expect the Badgers to put up a ton on hapless UNLV who only return two starters on their defensive front. Another edge for Wisconsin bettors is the fact UNLV in their last ten games away from home as an underdog are 0-10 against the betting number. Early line projections have Wisconsin favored in every game on the board so far: -16.0 over Northern Illinois, -2.5 over Nebraska, -1.5 over Michigan State, -1.0 over Ohio State, -5.5 over Illinois and -9.0 over Penn State.
In 2010, the only losses suffered by the Wisconsin Badgers were the 24-34 road loss to the Michigan State Spartans as -2.5 favorites and the Rose Bowl defeat to TCU 19-21 as +3.0 underdogs. Two of the top three running backs (James White 1,052 yards & Montee Ball 996 yards) return to Madison to an offense that set a school records in both scoring (43.3 points per game) and rushing touchdowns (46). If this does not scare the rest of the Big 10 conference, the addition of NC State quarterback Russell Wilson should. Wilson is 3rd in Wolfpack history passing for 8,545 yards and is second all-time in ACC history with 93 rushing and passing touchdowns. Wilson has quickly bonded with the system and the team and two weeks in was voted as the captain of the squad. Despite some key losses on the offensive line, Wisconsin will still have a solid front group to open up the run game and passing attack which makes them the current choice by oddsmakers to win the Big 10 in 2011.
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