FanDuel Sportsbook presents a very interesting debate with the Penn State Nittany Lions and the Ohio State Buckeyes
If you were to ask anyone, anywhere, 99 out of 100 of them would say that Ohio State is better than Penn State and has a much better chance to win the National Championship. However, FanDuel Sportsbook put out a line that might make you do a double-take.
This year, FanDuel is offering a market to bet on win totals between two teams. The one that they posted on Monday was between the Nittany Lions and the Ohio State Buckeyes.
The value here is interesting because Penn State is +240 to have more wins than Ohio State next year.
Now, in a vacuum, that is one of the worst bets that can possibly be made. Ohio State is considered to be one of, if not the, best teams in the country with legitimate aspirations to win the National Championship.
More so, they have proven year over year that they win in the regular season and win consistently.
On the other side, the Nittany Lions are coming off their worst season in years, which resulted in the firing of a staff and a recrafting of their entire roster. So how does any of this make sense?
It all comes down to the strength of schedules.
With 18 teams, the Big Ten has not figured out how to properly create a schedule, and the result is that the strength of schedules in the conference is drastically different. The Buckeyes have by far and away the hardest schedule in the conference and one of the hardest schedules in the country.
They will have seven regular-season games against teams ranked in the top 30 in the country. Six of those games will be against teams ranked in the top 25 to start the season, at least.
There is a very realistic world in which Ohio State tosses out a 9-3 or 8-4 record this season and shows that they are actually human. Now, I don't believe that they will; I think that 10-2 is the most likely for Ohio State.
On the Penn State side of things, the Nittany Lions are a team that got blessed by their schedule. They have three "buy" games to start the year and then the second-weakest Big Ten schedule.
There is a very real chance that Penn State goes 10-2 or 11-1, even in Matt Campbell's first year. For what it is worth, if they finish with the same record, those odds are +490.
This is not gambling advice, but it is a fascinating conversation to be had between two teams that have totally different aspirations for this season, but could certainly see them both finishing with records that are near each other.
Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.
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