Fresh off a 54-10 win over the Eastern Michigan Eagles, the Wisconsin Badgers are getting a very early test on their Big Ten schedule, as they take on the No. 13 Penn State Nittany Lions in their conference opener.
It was a promising sign that Wisconsin handled business as they did on Saturday after two weeks of uninspiring play to start the year. The Badgers were dialed in offensively after a slow start, and the defense consistently got stops and forced turnovers, leading to the blowout win.
Things won’t come easy, though, in Week 4, as the Badgers face a 3-0 Penn State team that has a lot of new faces and is looking to return to the College Football Playoff with Matt Campbell at the helm. The Nittany Lions are coming off a 55-13 win over Buffalo and have looked solid through the first few weeks of the season.
Penn State does have some key injury news, though, as star sophomore wide receiver Koby Howard is questionable after suffering an injury on Saturday.
The two teams will get the evening slate this weekend, as kickoff is set for 5:00 p.m. local time (4:00 p.m. central) on Peacock. What are the odds looking like ahead of the Big Ten opener for the Badgers?
Wisconsin opened as an 11.5-point underdog on FanDuel, but the early money has come on the Badgers. They’re now down to a 9.5-point underdog, with the over/under set at 44.5 points. That’s factoring in the home-field advantage, so on a neutral field, Wisconsin would be near-touchdown underdogs against the top-15 Nittany Lions.
At first glance, it is surprising that Wisconsin isn’t a bigger underdog, but we’ve seen flashes of the Badgers being a quality team on both sides of the ball so far this season. One area they’ve struggled is running the football. That still wasn’t a strength in Week 3, despite the blowout win. But Wisconsin showed some explosive play ability on offense, and it feels like they’re waiting to unleash Colton Joseph in the run game until Big Ten play starts.
Defensively, the talent is there. Can they win the line of scrimmage battle and find ways to force turnovers? That’s the question mark.
We’ll see how the odds continue to shift ahead of kickoff, but the Badgers are sitting as 9.5-point underdogs early in the week.
