Look: Texas Opens as Favorite Over Michigan in 2024 Matchup
There’s no way to know just how things will shake out before the 2024 college football season begins, as we just finished putting a bow on 2023.
After taking down Alabama in the Rose Bowl and Washington in the national championship game, Jim Harbaugh and the Michigan Wolverines finally secured that elusive College Football Playoff National Championship Trophy.
Still, there are reports that he’s interviewing with multiple NFL teams and could be on his way out the door. We truly don’t even know who will be running the show for UM this offseason, let alone roaming the sidelines in 2024.
Yet, Vegas is releasing odds on marquee matchups for next year and some of those include the 2023 national champions.
After winning the title this season, the Wolverines will have one heck of a gauntlet to run to defend their title. UM will host Texas (No. 3 in the Final AP Poll), while visiting Washington (No. 2) and Ohio State (No. 10).
Lines for all three of those contests have been provided, via FanDuel’s sportsbook, and the Wolverines open up as underdogs in two of them.
- vs. Texas (-1.5) on Sept. 7
- at Washington (+11.5) on Oct. 5
- at Ohio State (-6) on Nov. 30
Steve Sarkisian and the Texas Longhorns will head to Ann Arbor for a massive nonconference tilt in Week 2 of the 2024 season, and as of now, it appears they’ll be favorites in the Big House.
Texas and Ohio State are set to return several major contributors from two-loss teams in 2023 and will have vastly more experienced options at quarterback than the Wolverines, with Quinn Ewers and Will Howard, respectively.
The Buckeyes also added arguably the best running back in the country in Ole Miss transfer Quinshon Judkins while also convincing TreVeyon Henderson to decline the opportunity to enter the NFL Draft for one more season and come back to Columbus.
Defending a national title will be a difficult task for Michigan, especially with Washington, Oregon, USC, and UCLA joining the Big Ten. Add to that the fact that teams like Iowa can’t sneak into the conference title game thanks to the removal of divisions, and Michigan would have to face a team like Ohio State a second time in the Big Ten Championship.
With a schedule like that, no wonder the Wolverines’ odds are just seventh-best (+1400) to win a title again next season, and that’s before their head coach leaves for the NFL.
