{"id":6119,"date":"2019-08-22T12:05:54","date_gmt":"2019-08-22T12:05:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/?p=6119"},"modified":"2019-08-22T12:05:59","modified_gmt":"2019-08-22T12:05:59","slug":"big-ten-conference-college-football-futures-preview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.betonline.ag\/news-room\/ncaaf\/big-ten-conference-college-football-futures-preview\/","title":{"rendered":"Big Ten Conference College Football Futures Preview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Since 2002, Ohio State has won or shared the Big 10 Conference title nine times, including three championships in the last five seasons. But the Buckeyes are a different squad this season, with head coach Urban Meyer retiring once again and quarterback Dwayne Haskins leaving for the NFL. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is the door finally open for Michigan to step through it? After all, it\u2019s why the Wolverines hired their former quarterback as head coach back in 2015 and it\u2019s resulted in exactly zero titles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Is there a chance that a Big Ten West division winner can actually compete with its eastern counterparts for the big hardware? Perhaps Wisconsin, who were the last western team to do it from 2010-2012. Before that, you\u2019ve got to go all the way to 2003 to Iowa splitting the championship with Michigan in 2004. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

BetOnline.ag<\/a> has the futures to help you solve both those quandaries. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

First up, you can toss out pretty much every Big Ten West team off your board. There\u2019s not a squad there tat can really get into the national conversation or even sniff at the College Football Playoff. The West winner here will only earn the right to get trounced by the East champion, as has happened in every championship game since they went to the East vs West format in 2014. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you really wanted to roll the dice there, you could look at Wisconsin at +1400. There are statistical models that put them at nine wins this season and that\u2019s not a stretch. The Badgers finished 8-5 last season. They\u2019ve got the solid running back they always seem to have, led by Jonathan Taylor, and a stout defense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Iowa Hawkeyes are particularly intriguing from a betting standpoint. They have a great payoff at +2000 and were one score away in three conference games in doing something special last season. They won their last three, including a 31-28 over current West darling Nebraska, then beat Mississippi State 27-22 in the Outback Bowl. I\u2019m surprised more people aren\u2019t jumping on this bandwagon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But this is a conference that everyone expects to come down to a two-team race, Ohio State vs Michigan. It worked out that way last season, with the Buckeyes trouncing the Wolverines 62-39 the Saturday after Thanksgiving. It was Michigan\u2019s only conference loss and not only cost them a conference title, but probably a spot in the College Football Playoff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ryan Day\u2019s Ohio State cupboard is fare from bare. These are still mostly Meyer\u2019s players and those that aren\u2019t are blue chip transfers like quarterback Justin Fields from Georgia. They\u2019ve got four of five starters back on the offensive line and a defense that should be better than last year\u2019s squad due to experience if nothing else. This is a team that\u2019s raided by the NFL draft every year for a reason. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michigan should have nothing but vengeance on its mind after losing out on pretty much everything because of their lopsided loss to the Buckeyes. What makes me think it won\u2019t matter is they had a chance to end the year on a positive note in the Peach Bowl, facing what should have been an outmanned Florida team. Instead, they laid their worst egg of the season, losing 41-15 in a game that wasn\u2019t even that close. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ohio State remains the safest place to stash your cash in the Big 10 until they prove otherwise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Get the latest college football odds and information–follow BetOnline.ag on Twitter<\/a>!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Since 2002, Ohio State has won or shared the Big 10 Conference title nine times, including three championships in the…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":6120,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[133],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6119","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ncaaf"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t