Minnesota Golden Gophers Odds

Minnesota Golden Gophers 2023 Season Preview

The Minnesota Golden Gophers are gearing up for the 2023 football season with momentum at their backs following a strong 8-4 season last year. Coach P.J. Fleck looks to continue to build off of last year's success and compete in the Big Ten West.

Offensively, Minnesota will be without key players from last year including QB Tanner Morgan and RB Mohamed Ibrahim. With the departure of Ibrahim and several offensive linemen, Coach Fleck aims to maintain their strong running game with Western Michigan transfer tailback Sean Tyler. Quarterback Athan Kaliakmanis, a strong-armed signal-caller, takes over for Tanner Morgan and is supported by a promising group of receivers, including preseason All-America tight end Brevyn Spann-Ford. The offensive coordinators, Matt Simon and Greg Harbaugh Jr., are focused on creative ways to utilize playmakers like Elijah Spencer and Corey Crooms Jr., who are high-impact wide receiver transfers. The Golden Gophers were a middling offense in 2022, ranking 73rd in the counry, scoring 25.4 PPG.

Similar to the offense, the Minnesota defense will face the challenge of replacing key players from a unit that ranked highly in both scoring defense and yards allowed last season. The secondary, in particular, has been affected by departures to the NFL and transfers, but safety Darius Green and cornerback Justin Walley are expected to step up. Linebacker Cody Lindenberg is aiming to fill the role of Mariano Sori-Marin and improve the team's pass rush, which was a point of emphasis in the offseason. Minnesota's 2022 defense ranked 3rd in the country, only allowing 14.2 points per game to opposing teams. This will be hard to replicate, but the defensive unit could be the team's key to victories in 2023.

Despite playing in the weaker Big Ten West, the Golden Gophers got an unlucky draw this season and will square off against Michigan, Ohio State, and Michigan State from the East in 2023. This makes their schedule considerably harder than some of their West rivals. The Gophers are currently preseason 7th to win the Big Ten Conference at consensus +3188 odds.

Minnesota Golden Gophers Point Spreads

Despite its overall winning record, Minnesota was only slightly profitable for its spread bettors in 2022 with a record of 7-6 against the spread. This can happen when a team covers the spread but loses the game.

With spread bets, if a team covers, bets on that team pay off. Spread bets rely on the amount of the victory to decide the bet, and they look like this:

• Minnesota +10.5 (-110)
• Wisconsin -10.5 (-110)

With a 20-17 loss, underdog Minnesota still covered the spread, as the three-point loss was less than the 10.5 points that the line was set at (winning the game as an underdog also counts as covering). The favored team — Wisconsin in this case — needed to win by at least 11 points to cover.

Minnesota Golden Gophers Over/Unders

Another popular bet on college football is an over/under, or totals, bet. With this kind of bet, you’re wagering on how many points are scored in a Gophers game, rather than which team wins or loses or the amount of the victory.

For example, betting under 47.5 for the game against Wisconsin that finished 20-17 was a winning bet, since the points scored (37) was less than the number oddsmakers set the total. For the over to get the green check, you’d need 48 or more combined points. Whole number totals can end up as a tie if the points scored is equal to the total. In that case, all bettors get refunded.

Minnesota hit on 41.7% of the Overs in their games last season. So, this was not a very sound wager for Golden Gophers bettors last season.

Minnesota Golden Gophers Moneylines

If wins and losses aren’t just the most important thing, but the only thing, then moneyline bets are for you. Moneyline bets are wagers on which team will the game; nothing else matters. However, markets adjust the odds based on whether the Gophers are expected to win the game (“favorites”) or expected to lose (“underdogs”).

Favored teams — those with minus odds — pay out less than the amount bet on them, while underdogs (plus sign) pay out more. For example, the Gophers winning as -220 favorites vs. Wisconsin would require $220 to be wagered to win $100, but if they’re +220 underdogs, you need to risk just $100 to win $220.

Minnesota Golden Gophers Props

Proposition, or prop, bets are wagers on a player's stat line for a game. They're a great entry into betting if you're a fan of fantasy football.

Other than rushing yards, you could bet on Ibrahim to score a touchdown, QB Athan Kaliakmanis completions, TE Brevyn Spann-Ford receptions, and many more.

Minnesota Golden Gophers Futures

Future bets are wagers on things that happen over the course of the season, like the total number of wins the Gophers have or a player to win an award at the end of the year.

Other Gophers futures for 2023 include their odds to win the Big Ten, over/under on their season win total and more.