Big Ten Win Totals: OSU, Penn State and Wisconsin Have Little Room for Error
The Ohio State Buckeyes were one of the best teams in college football last season and were favored in every game, but slipped up twice in a 10-2 straight up and 5-7 against the spread regular season. This year's Buckeyes will try to avoid the mistakes and get back into the hunt for a national championship.
Ohio State's win total for 2018 is 10.5 at sportsbooks monitored by OddsShark.com. Under regular conditions, the OVER 10.5 might be an enticing play on a super-talented Buckeyes team that has won 11 or more games five times in the last six years. But whether Urban Meyer keeps his job or not, the controversy swirling around the program in the weeks leading up to the season will likely take their toll.
Road games at Penn State and Michigan State loom large, and home games against TCU and Michigan won't be cakewalks, either. Look for a second straight 10-win season and the total to go UNDER 10.5.
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The Wisconsin Badgers have the second highest win total in the Big Ten this season set at 10 wins. This looks like a near-perfect line. The Badgers have one of the best defenses in the nation and could build on their exceptional 13-win season last year, but with road games at Iowa, Michigan, Northwestern and Penn State on the docket, there just isn't enough room for error in this line.
Penn State (9.5 win total) is tasked with replacing nine starters on defense, but with Trace McSorely back to run this offense, the Nittany Lions shouldn't have trouble blowing the competition away most weeks. Home games against Ohio State and Wisconsin won't be easy, but the team's only real road test comes at Michigan this season. With just one win in those three games, the Nittany Lions should coast through the rest of the schedule and land OVER 9.5 wins.
Rounding out the college football win totals in the Big Ten are Michigan (9), Michigan State (9), Iowa (7), Nebraska (6), Northwestern (6), Minnesota (6), Purdue (6), Indiana (5), Maryland (5.0), Illinois (4.0), and Rutgers (4.0). Like Ohio State, Maryland is swimming in coaching controversy right now and looks like a good play on the UNDER five wins.
