On Saturday, Texas will travel to Ann Arbor to take on Michigan, the defending national champions, in a colossal early-season showdown with College Football Playoff implications.
The third-ranked Longhorns and ninth-ranked Wolverines will face off for just the second time in history, and for the first time since 2005, when Texas outlasted Michigan to win the Rose Bowl, 38-37.
However, this will be the first time Texas has traveled to the Big House — where Michigan has won 23 consecutive games.
Despite the fact that UM hasn’t lost at home since 2020, Texas opened up as a 3.5-point favorite on the road, and the line movement since then has only added to the intrigue. With 57% of the bets coming in on Texas, the line quickly jumped up to 7.0 points in favor of the Longhorns — implying that a lot of big money moved on UT quickly.
However, since that initial surge in Texas’ favor, the line has settled, and as of Thursday afternoon, we still see Michigan getting a touchdown and an extra point.
It’s also worth noting that bettors seem to see a low-scoring affair in this matchup, with the O/U opening at 45.5 points and shrinking down to 42.5 points after 71% of the bets were placed on the under.
This game is bound to see an incredible amount of money placed on it considering how massive these two brands are in the grand scheme of college football. Michigan claims the title of winningest program in college football with 1,005 victories all-time, while Texas ranks fourth with 949 all-time wins.
These two teams also represented half of the field in the 2023 College Football Playoff — the last year of the four-team model. Texas fell to Washington in the Allstate Sugar Bowl, while Michigan took down Alabama in the Rose Bowl before toppling Washington in the CFP National Championship.
Texas and Michigan will get things underway following Big Noon Kickoff on Saturday, with kickoff scheduled for 11:00 a.m. CT on FOX.
