If you’re eager to bet on Ohio State football this season, there’s already plenty of wagers you can make.
Even though the start of the season is still more than three months away, betting lines have been released for half of Ohio State’s 12 regular-season games this year. Sportsbooks have also put out futures odds for which team will win the national championship, who will win the Big Ten, how many games each team will win this season and who will win the Heisman Trophy.
On this week’s episode of Real Pod Wednesdays, we take a look at all of the lines released so far by FanDuel and DraftKings for Ohio State’s 2023 games, the national championship, the Big Ten championship, win/loss totals for each Big Ten team and every Buckeye who currently has Heisman odds. Among all of those categories, we analyze why the lines are what they are and make our picks for which bets we’d be most and least inclined to make.
At the end of the show, we also spend a little time talking about this weekend’s report by ESPN’s Pete Thamel that shed light on the Big Ten’s still-incomplete TV deal and why Ohio State will host a night game against Michigan State in November even though it doesn’t want to.
The rundown for this week’s show:
- 2:00: Ohio State is favored by 28 against Indiana, which says more about Hoosiers than Buckeyes
- 4:18: It’s tempting to bet on the Buckeyes vs. Notre Dame with only a seven-point spread
- 6:49: 10.5 is a logical line for Ohio State vs. Penn State, but history suggests it could be closer
- 9:30: Wisconsin could be more dangerous for Ohio State than it’s been in recent matchups
- 11:48: 24.5 seems like a large spread for Michigan State, but it’s really right where it should be
- 14:13: Ohio State is an underdog against Michigan, and it’s hard to argue the Buckeyes shouldn’t be
- 18:18: Picks for the best and worst bets on Ohio State’s preseason game lines
- 20:34: Purdue, Maryland likely to have the closest spreads among Ohio State’s other six games
- 22:54: Ohio State’s upside gives it better national championship odds than Michigan
- 25:01: Our thoughts on Georgia, Alabama and other potential national championship contenders
- 32:35: Ohio State has the best odds to win the Big Ten, but is far from a prohibitive favorite
- 35:12: Wisconsin, Penn State might offer the best value in Big Ten championship futures
- 37:07: 10.5 wins is the right over/under for both Ohio State and Michigan
- 40:01: The overs and unders we like best in the Big Ten
- 42:14: Caleb Williams should have the best Heisman odds, but history says not to bet on him
- 43:51: Michael Penix Jr., Drake Maye among Heisman candidates to watch
- 44:46: Why Marvin Harrison Jr. is the Buckeyes’ best bet to win the Heisman Trophy
- 48:23: Drew Allar a Big Ten Heisman candidate to watch – but he’ll have to beat Ohio State or Michigan
- 50:18: Kevin Warren wants a bonus for a TV deal he didn’t even finish
- 52:57: November night games in the Midwest aren’t ideal, but that’s the cost of doing business
- 57:52: It’s no coincidence that the Big Ten hired a TV executive to clean up the mess
- 59:20: You know the Big Ten’s Week 2 schedule is bad when Youngstown State might be on NBC
- 1:01:14: Shoutouts to Joshua Perry, Ohio State men’s tennis and Ohio State baseball
Subscribe to Real Pod Wednesdays on your podcast streaming platform of choice (Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts) or click on the audio player at the top of the page to listen to this week’s episode.
