The 127th iteration of The Game is still over six months away, but that has not stopped oddsmakers from expressing confidence that the Buckeyes can get it done against their arch rivals come Nov. 30 at Ohio Stadium.
Ohio State is currently slated as a 10-point favorite over Michigan on BetMGM and DraftKings and a 9.5-point favorite on Bet365 and FanDuel, a strong showing of belief from oddsmakers that the veteran-led Buckeyes can end their three-game losing streak to the Wolverines and win its first game over Michigan since the 2019 season.
After a prolonged period of dominance over the Wolverines under the leadership of former Ohio State head coaches Jim Tressel and Urban Meyer — the program went 17-2 over their rivals from 2001-19 — Michigan has flipped the script in this storied rivalry. With head coach Jim Harbaugh at the helm in Ann Arbor, the Wolverines took three straight games from the Buckeyes from 2021-23, with two of those victories coming by more than 15 points.
Ohio State’s latest loss to Michigan was a 30-24 defeat last November in which former Buckeye quarterback Kyle McCord threw a game-ending interception from the Wolverines 37-yard-line. It was a gut-wrenching ending that likely contributed to the transfer of McCord to Syracuse in December, while also putting significant pressure on head coach Ryan Day to take care of business in 2024.
But with the Wolverines losing Harbaugh and a number of high-impact players from their national championship-winning team to the NFL — and the Buckeyes conversely retaining double-digit starters and adding high-level transfers such as safety Caleb Downs, quarterback Will Howard and running back Quinshon Judkins, among others — things may be turning in the Buckeyes’ favor in this storied rivalry this season.
Aside from The Game, the Buckeyes are also favored to easily take care of the majority of their 2024 opponents. Ohio State has opened as at least a 20-point favorite on DraftKings against Akron on Aug. 31 (-50.5) and Iowa on Oct. 5 (-24), Nebraska on Oct. 26 (-25.5), while it opened as just a three-point favorite on the road against Penn State on Nov. 2.
The only game Ohio State is not favored in is against Oregon. The Ducks, who are coming off a successful 12-2 season and have brought in the second-best transfer class of the offseason, are currently slotted as a one-point favorite against the Buckeyes at home on Oct. 12 on both DraftKings and Bet365.
Ohio State is a slight favorite to defeat Oregon on BetMGM (-1.5) and FanDuel (-1.5), however.
Per DraftKings, the Buckeyes have the second-best odds to win the national championship (+425) behind only Georgia (+320), while they have the best odds to win the Big Ten at +160 and -600 odds to make the College Football Playoff.
