Opening Line: Wisconsin Favored in Crucial Game For Indiana

Indiana returns home to Memorial Stadium Saturday for a Noon ET kickoff against the 5-3 Wisconsin Badgers.

Jack Ankony | Oct 30, 2023

Opening Line: Wisconsin Favored in Crucial Game For Indiana /

In this story:

Indiana Hoosiers

BLOOMINGTON, Ind. – Indiana must go on a four-game win streak to end the season in order to reach bowl eligibility. It starts with a home game against Wisconsin, which drew one of the closest point spreads of Indiana's season.

Wisconsin is a 9.5-point favorite, and the over/under is 44.5 points, according to the SI Sportsbook on Monday afternoon. The Wisconsin moneyline is minus-400, and the Indiana moneyline is plus-280.

Here's how Indiana has fared against the spread in 2023.

Week 1: Covered 30-point spread in 23-3 loss to Ohio State
Week 2: Covered 31-point spread in 41-7 win over Indiana State
Week 3: Covered 10-point spread in 21-14 loss to Louisville
Week 4: Did not cover 16.5-point spread in 29-27 win over Akron
Week 5: Did not cover 14.5-point spread in 44-17 loss at Maryland
Week 7: Did not cover 33-point spread in 52-7 loss at Michigan
Week 8: Did not cover 6-point spread in 31-14 loss to Rutgers
Week 9: Covered 31-point spread in 33-24 loss at Penn State

In regards to the point spread set by oddsmakers, this game projects to be among Indiana's closest all season. The only game with a smaller spread was Week 8 at home against Rutgers, when Indiana was a 6-point underdog but lost by 17. It's nearly identical to the Hoosiers' neutral site game against Louisville in Week 3, when Indiana was a 10-point underdog.

Despite the loss, coach Tom Allen and the Hoosiers are coming off one of their best games of the season. As a 31-point underdog, no one but themselves thought they could hang with No. 10 Penn State on the road, but that's just was the Hoosiers did. Indiana tied the game a 24 with 2:58 remaining, but allowed a long touchdown and a safety to ultimately lose 33-24.

Indiana alternated quarterbacks for most of the first half of the season, but redshirt freshman Brendan Sorsby has taken hold of the job in recent weeks. He played arguably the best game of any Indiana quarterback this season at Penn State Saturday, completing 13-of-19 passes for 269 yards, three touchdowns and an interception. The Hoosiers' 24 points represent the most scored by any Penn State opponent this season.

On the other sideline, Wisconsin is coming off a 24-10 home loss to No. 3 Ohio State. It was a tie game near the midway point of the third quarter, but Ohio state pulled away with two unanswered touchdowns. Replacing the injured Tanner Mordecai, Wisconsin's freshman quarterback Braedyn Locke played his fourth game of the year, and completed 18-of-39 passes for 165 yards and a touchdown.

The Badgers' star running back Braelon Allen suffered a left leg injury at the end of the first half against Ohio State. Coach Luke Fickell said Allen did not practice Sunday, and it's currently unclear if he'll play Saturday against Indiana.

Wisconsin holds a 5-3 record this season, with wins over Buffalo, Georgia Souther, Purdue, Rutgers and Illinois. The Badgers lost 31-22 at Washington State, 15-6 at home against Iowa and most recently at home against Ohio State, 24-10.

Related stories on Indiana football