It appears the oddsmakers are giving Wisconsin the "Roger Federer first-round opponent at Wimbledon" treatment this weekend.
The Badgers are on the road at Minnesota and the Gophers are significant favorites according to 5Dimes for Friday's game that will be televised on the Big Ten Network.
Minnesota is a -855 Friday night, which means you'd have to risk $855 to win $100 if you put your money on the Gophers. The Badgers, on the other hand, are a +485. That means if you risk $100 on the Badgers to win, you'd come out with $485 if they pull off the upset.
Obviously the Badgers are 2-12-2 this season and I'm not going to rehash those struggles here.
Minnesota was projected by everyone to win the Big Ten this year, but the Gophers have done little to prove they are the team everyone expected them to be coming off a season in which they lost in the national championship game.
The Gophers are just 3-6-1 over their past 10 games and are coming off a sweep at the hands off Michigan last weekend. While Minnesota is 6-2 at home this season, the last time Don Lucia's club played at home they lost to Merrimack and needed overtime to defeat RIT at the Marriuci Classic.
Now don't get me wrong, the Gophers have the deeper, more talented roster and deserve to be favorites in this game/series. At the same time, everyone knows how tightly contested these rivalry games can be.
I'll have more, in-depth coverage of the games available for wagering later in the week. There are seven games on the card so far this weekend, including five on Friday night alone. Get ready, degenerates.
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