Wisconsin football: Badgers currently favored in six contests according to DraftKings

We’re still 98 days away from the college football season kicking off for the Badgers, but that doesn’t mean it's too early to look at some betting lines. DraftKings Sportsbook has released look-ahead lines for many college football games across the country. The Badgers are no exception, as DraftKings has released spreads for six of Wisconsin’s contests for the 2021 season.

In somewhat of a surprise the Badgers are listed as the favorite in each of the games released including the contests with Penn State, Notre Dame and Michigan. Below are the six games currently listed on the DraftKings Sportsbook.

• Penn State @ Wisconsin (-3.5)
• Notre Dame vs Wisconsin (-1.5)
• Michigan @ Wisconsin (-9.5)
• Wisconsin (-17.5) @ Illinois
• Wisconsin (-10.5) @ Purdue
• Northwestern @ Wisconsin (-16.5)

With Wisconsin being favored in some of their more challenging games of the season, t’s likely that the Badgers will at least start out as favorites in most of their matchups. When you take the first six and add in Eastern Michigan, Army, Nebraska and Rutgers it’s likely that the Badgers will be favorites in ten of their twelve contests with Iowa and Minnesota a very real possibility as well.

Looking back at the spreads, a few do jump out. The Badgers being 3.5 favorites against Penn State may come as a surprise to some, but having home-field advantage in that contest really weighs the spread. Penn State will be stepping into the first full Camp Randall Stadium contest in quite a while. The environment will be rowdy despite the 11 a.m. kick time (HORRID).

Additionally, the Notre Dame game jumps out to me. If you’re going to bet this game I would wait until closer to kickoff to see what this spread gets to. This contest will be in Chicago, which has a heavy Notre Dame presence. It’s likely that the spread here will shift in the Badgers favor as the Notre Dame hype train continues to build.

Lastly, 16.5 point favorites against Northwestern has certainly made me look twice. The Wildcats have some key pieces to replace on both sides of the ball, but Pat Fitzgerald’s squad has still won the Big Ten West in two of the past three years. 16.5 is quite a spread despite the losses for Northwestern.

Overall, I don’t think I would jump on any of these numbers just yet. We’re still 98 days away from football, and there will be a lot of changes that will possibly move these numbers. Given the Badgers playing multiple “blue bloods,” it’s likely lines will shift in their favor at some point. Either way, I am excited to see spreads and excited to get back to Camp Randall Stadium on September 4th.