Hoosiers Now

Indiana 7-Point Underdog to Penn State in First Opening Betting Line

The Big Ten football season is finally going to start next Saturday, and the first betting lines are out for the league's first seven games. Indiana is a 7-point underdog in the home opener against No. 9-ranked Penn State.

Tom Brew

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. –  The first betting lines for Big Ten games next Saturday have been released, and Indiana is listed as a 7-point underdog to No. 9 Penn State in the season opener on the BetOnline.ag site.

Indiana is just 1-22 all-time against Penn State, but the Hoosiers have played the Nittany Lions tough lately. They lost 34-27 at Penn State a year ago as 15-point underdogs, and lost 33-28 in Bloomington two years ago as 14.5-point dogs.

The game will kick off at 3:30 p.m. ET from Memorial Stadium in Bloomington. The game will be telecast on Fox Sports 1.

This is the first weekend of the Big Ten schedule, even though it occurs during Week 8 of the college football schedule. The league is going to try to play eight games in eight weeks, with everyone playing a ninth crossover-game during the Big Ten Championship Game week. 

Five Big Ten teams are currently ranked, No. 6 Ohio State, No. 9 Penn State, No. 16 Wisconsin, No. 19 Michigan and No. 24 Minnesota. 

Here are the betting odds for the other six Big Ten games on the first weekend of the season as of Oct. 15;

Friday, Oct. 23

  • Illinois at Wisconsin (minus-23.5)

Saturday, Oct. 24

  • Penn State (minus-7) at Indiana
  • Nebraska at Ohio State (minus-21.5)
  • Rutgers at Michigan State (minus-11.5)
  • Iowa (minus-2.5) at Purdue
  • Michigan at Minnesota (minus-2.5)
  • Maryland at Northwestern (minus-11)

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Tom Brew
TOM BREW

Tom Brew is an award-winning journalist who has worked at some of America's finest newspapers as a reporter and editor, including the Tampa Bay (Fla.) Times, the Indianapolis Star and the South Florida Sun-Sentinel. He has covered college sports in the digital platform for the past six years, including the last five years as publisher of HoosiersNow on the FanNation/Sports Illustrated network.

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