The Big Ten has suddenly become the home of College Football Playoff champions.
After Michigan won it all in 2023, four teams from the Big Ten reached the College Football Playoff last season, including now-defending national champion Ohio State.
The Buckeyes are co-favorites to win the 2025-26 CFP, too.
Yet, interestingly, in Big Ten championship odds at Caesars Sports, early money isn’t landing where many might expect.
“USC is really the big story,” Caesars Sports head of football trading Joey Feazel said. “USC opened 35/1 and is down to 16/1.”
Feazel helps dive into how bettors are playing Big Ten Conference title odds.
Value Shopping
Ohio State is the tidy +190 favorite to win the Big Ten title this season. Penn State is close behind at +210, then defending Big Ten champ Oregon at +340. All three of those teams, along with Indiana, reached the College Football Playoff last season.
But bettors apparently want a little more bang for their buck in Big Ten football odds. Getting Southern Cal at +3500 looks pretty good right now. If you’d jumped on early with a $100 bet at 35/1, then you’d be looking at potentially $3,500 in profit with a USC conference title.
“USC is fourth in ticket count, but leading the money in futures wagers,” Feazel said. “A lot of action is coming in on USC. People are seeing USC as the value.
“One thing we know: The Trojans have a good offense, but a defense with something to be desired. But they start out with a couple of cupcakes, and maybe they can build up from there.”
Southern Cal hosts FCS foe Missouri State in the Aug. 30 opener, then hosts Sun Belt outfit Georgia Southern on Sept. 6.
Another popular team in Big Ten championship odds is a little less surprising to Feazel.
“The Nebraska Cornhuskers are leading the ticket count. That’s the case almost every year,” Feazel said. “There’s always some hype in the offseason that the next season is when they return to their former glory.
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“So there are a lot of tickets, but not necessarily a lot of money.”
As such, you can still get Nebraska at +3500.
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Parlay Play
Penn State is No. 2 in ticket count and money in Caesars’ Big Ten championship odds, followed by Ohio State. But those two teams’ short prices — and corresponding modest payouts if either win the conference title — have bettors looking for other ways to utilize the Big Ten’s top two teams.
“Futures parlays are very popular now, and those two teams are very involved in those,” Feazel said.
For example: With the Buckeyes at +190 to win the Big Ten, if a bettor parlays that with, say, Texas +360 to win the SEC and the Buffalo Bills +625 to win the Super Bowl, the payout is significantly better.
Add those three legs up in a parlay, and you’ve got odds of +9571, or about 96/1. So a $100 bet profits $9,571.50. However, all three legs have to get there. And as I often note: Parlays are a bookmaker’s best friend. So keep that in mind.
A Turtle’s Pace
Maryland is on the opposite side of the Big Ten championship odds coin. Almost no one believes in the Terrapins, who at +40000 (400/1) are the 16th choice at Caesars, among 18 teams.
“The anti-favorite action is on Maryland. The Terrapins have gotten one bet to win the Big Ten,” Feazel said.
Only Northwestern and Purdue have longer Big Ten odds, both at +50000.
Patrick Everson is a sports betting analyst for FOX Sports and senior reporter for VegasInsider.com. He is a distinguished journalist in the national sports betting space. He’s based in Las Vegas, where he enjoys golfing in 110-degree heat. Follow him on X: @PatrickE_Vegas.
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