Bovada Releases Football Futures, Terps Are Longshots

Bovada has one of the better online sportsbooks around, and they recently released their college football futures (among other things) for the upcoming season just a few weeks away. That includes the Maryland Terrapins, who Bovada feels is decidedly not the the odds-on favorite to win the Big Ten.

On the contrary, Bovada gives Maryland just 100/1 odds to win the Big Ten during their first season in a new conference. The Terrapins come in tied for eighth alongside Illinois and Indiana, but ahead of Purdue and Rutgers in terms of odds. Check below:

Purdue – 250/1

Rutgers – 200/1

Illinois – 100/1

Indiana – 100/1

Maryland – 100/1

Minnesota – 50/1

Northwestern – 40/1

Nebraska – 11/2

Michigan – 9/1

Michigan State – 4/1

Ohio State – 10/11

As for what their odds are of winning the Big Ten East Division? Well, judging by those prior odds you can probably guess that things are equally bleak for the Terps: they’ve got 50/1 odds and have the 5th worst odds of the six teams eligible. Only Rutgers has worse odds here.

Rutgers – 100/1

Maryland – 50/1

Indiana – 33/1

Michigan – 5/1

Ohio State – 2/5

Michigan State – 13/5

Clearly Ohio State and Michigan are the two favorites, but Bovada really doesn’t have much faith in either of the newcomers to make an impact on the Big Ten right away. Worse still, you have to figure they’d probably be even worse if Penn State were eligible to be included in this. The only other Big Ten team to get odds as bad as 50/1 or 100/1? Purdue. High praise!

Personally, the odds seem at least mildly off. Maryland returns a whole lot of talent from bowl-eligible team last season, have a very good secondary and (arguably) the best wide receiving corp in the Big Ten. They may not beat Ohio State or Michigan State, but against Penn State and Michigan? They most certainly have a chance.

Still, that schedule is unforgiving (thanks, Mr. Delaney) and that might lend some credence to the thinking that the Terps could get hit hard next year. But hey, at least they beat Penn State in something!