Penn State Opens as Ridiculous Road Underdog Against Michigan in Early 2020 Odds for Week 5 Big Ten Clash

The home team has won each of the past four straight and seven of the last eight meetings between the Michigan Wolverines and Penn State Nittany Lions, and it certainly doesn't look like the oddsmakers believe that 2020 is going to the year that bucks this trend.

Even with the 2020 college football offseason experiencing some unprecedented spring delays and cancellations, the odds and spreads around more than 100 of this fall's biggest matchups are now available on FanDuel Sportsbook.

Penn State vs Michigan Football Spread 2020

Sitting months away from the 24th all-time meeting between these two football programs, Michigan has already opened as a surprising 1.5-point favorite over the Nittany Lions at home in Week 5 at the Big House in Ann Arbor, according to FanDuel Sportsbook.

After leading Penn State to a 7-2 season in conference play and orchestrating the No. 15 scoring offense in the country (35.8 PPG) last year, QB Sean Clifford is returning for his junior season in 2020. On the other side of the ball, Penn State finished with the No. 7 scoring defense (14.1 PPG), led by a strong pass rush that averaged 3.46 sacks per game (No. 7 in FBS).

The Nittany Lions did lose stud DE Yetur Gross-Matos to the 2020 NFL Draft, but they still return arguably the most talented defender left in the Big Ten in Micah Parsons at linebacker/DE for his junior season.

Meanwhile, the Wolverines look to replace starting QB Shea Patterson along with a total of 10 players selected to the 2020 NFL Draft – a count that tied Ohio State for the second-highest total among all schools this year. Jim Harbaugh knows how to field competitive product, but he's going to need his new-look 2020 squad ready to go by Week 6 with Clifford, Parsons and the rest of Penn State coming to town.

There's still plenty of time for things to change between now and this 2020 Big Ten East showdown, but the Wolverines remain early favorites for the time being. Barring any scheduling changes we may see, Michigan is currently set to host Penn State at Michigan Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 3, 2020.

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David Hayes is not a FanDuel employee. In addition to providing DFS gameplay advice, David Hayes also participates in DFS contests on FanDuel using his personal account, username DavidWHayes. While the strategies and player selections recommended in his articles are his personal views, he may deploy different strategies and player selections when entering contests with his personal account. The views expressed in their articles are the author's alone and do not necessarily reflect the views of FanDuel.