Alabama vs. Wisconsin Odds, Best Bets: Crimson Tide Favored in Madison

The SEC’s dominance of college football is nothing new.

But following the offseason additions of Texas and Oklahoma, the new-look conference has never looked better.

No. 4 Alabama’s Week 3 trip to Wisconsin as 16-point road favorites could make Saturday yet another banner day for the loaded SEC.

The Badgers, who are entering their third season under head coach Luke Fickell, have an opportunity for a massive upset in front of their home fans when Bama-Wisconsin kicks off at 12 p.m. ET on FOX.

The Crimson Tide lost a ton of talent from last year’s team and had to overhaul the coaching staff after Nick Saban’s retirement last January.

Obviously, the standard Bama had established under Saban will be difficult to meet. Still, new coach Kalen DeBoer, QB Jalen Milroe and a loaded defense make the reigning SEC champ a threat in not only the SEC, but also the College Football Playoff picture.

Alabama vs. Wisconsin Betting Odds

Below are the odds for Saturday’s game in three markets: the spread, moneyline and total.

$250 BONUS BETS

DRAFTKINGS SPORTSBOOK

$1,000 FIRST BET RESET (MUST USE CODE NEWSWEEK)

ESPN BET

UP TO $1,000 BONUS BETS

FANATICS SPORTSBOOK

$1,500 FIRST-BET OFFER

BETMGM

$200 BONUS OR $1,000 FIRST-BET SAFETY NET

BET365

$1,000 FIRST BET

CAESARS SPORTSBOOK

$200 BONUS BETS

FANDUEL SPORTSBOOK

Can Wisconsin Disrupt SEC’s Dominance?

Following Texas’s blowout win over defending national champ Michigan in Ann Arbor in Week 2 and Tennessee’s neutral-site obliteration of then-ranked NC State last Saturday, the SEC has an unprecedented stranglehold on the top of the AP Top 25.

Of the top seven teams in the country, only one — No. 3 Ohio State — is a non-SEC team. According to the AP, the SEC’s six teams in the top seven in the Week 3 Top 25 is a record. In fact, before this week, no league had ever even had five teams in the top seven.

In addition to the fourth-ranked Crimson Tide, five other SEC programs currently look like national title contenders:

• No. 1 Georgia
• No. 2 Texas
• No. 5 Mississippi
• No. 6 Missouri
• No. 7 Tennessee

The SEC also boasts two other top-25 teams in No. 15 Oklahoma and No. 16 LSU. Will unranked Wisconsin become the first team in 2024 to challenge, if not upset, an SEC title contender?*

*Yes, USC beat LSU in Week 1, but Brian Kelly’s team was not considered an SEC favorite after losing Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels to the 2024 NFL Draft.

Alabama vs. Wisconsin Betting Preview

Alabama Crimson Tide Betting News, Analysis

Alabama did not look like a CFP-caliber team for most of its Week 2 win over South Florida.

A year after the Bulls hung with the Crimson Tide for three quarters in a 17-3 loss, Bama led USF just 14-13 through three quarters last Saturday. DeBoer’s team broke the game open in the fourth quarter — outscoring USF 28-3 over the final 15 minutes — for a 42-16 win, but it hardly looked untouchable.

The biggest issue for Alabama so far this year has been its offensive line, which has been hurt by the absence of star left tackle Kadyn Proctor. With Proctor missing the first two games of the season and right tackle Elijah Pritchett hobbled with an ankle injury, Bama struggled to move the ball for most of its Week 2 win over South Florida.

Both are expected to start on Saturday. That could make a massive difference for a team that wants to rely on QB Jalen Milroe and RBs Justice Haynes and Jam Miller on the ground.

The Bama defense has played well so far this season, but we shouldn’t put too much stock in how it held up against Western Kentucky and South Florida. Whether Tyler Van Dyke and Wisconsin will be able to test the Bama D is unclear. We’ll soon find out exactly what the Tide’s ceiling is in Year 1 under DeBoer, though. After a bye next weekend, Bama hosts Georgia on September 28.

Wisconsin Badgers Betting News, Analysis

Wisconsin finished a respectable 7-6 (5-4 Big Ten) a year ago in Fickell’s first season in Madison. Oddsmakers expect the Badgers to be a middle-of-the-pack team in the Big Ten this year. At DraftKings, UW currently has the eighth-longest odds to win the Big Ten at 80-to-1. Those odds are just longer than Iowa’s Big Ten outrights and just shorter than Washington’s.

To open this season, Wisconsin wasn’t exactly dominant against either MAC opponent Western Michigan in its opener (a 28-14 win) or in Week 2 versus South Dakota (a 27-13 victory). Wisconsin QB Tyler Van Dyke, who transferred to the program from Miami in the spring, has a big arm, but was inconsistent as a Hurricane. He had four multi-interception games a year ago, including a dreadful performance on the road against NC State, where he threw three interceptions in a 20-6 loss.

So far this year, Van Dyke has taken good care of the football, with no interceptions in two starts. But he’s completing just 60 percent of his passes for an underwhelming 6.4 yards per attempt, and those numbers came against MAC and FCS defenses.

Defensively, Wisconsin should be solid after allowing just 20.2 points per game in 2023 and returning top corners Ricardo Hallman and Nyzier Fourqurean, but the Tide pose a much different test than Western Michigan and South Dakota, who both hung with Wisconsin for three quarters.

Alabama vs. Wisconsin Prediction

We haven’t seen enough from Alabama to expect them to walk all over a solid Big Ten team, but have we seen enough from Wisconsin to really trust them to hang with the reigning SEC champs for four quarters?

Not quite.

Wisconsin’s defense should keep this game close at home for a while, but if the Badgers are unable to move the ball on Alabama, they’re going to run out of gas on both sides of the ball at some point.

Georgia, Texas, Tennessee and Alabama are four different teams. Still, there’s been an undeniable trend in college football so far this season: the depth of the top SEC teams allowing them to pull away, even against ranked opponents (including defending national champ Michigan). We’ve already seen this play out three times:

• Georgia-Clemson, Week 1: 6-0 UGA at halftime –> final score: 34-3
• Texas-Michigan, Week 2: 24-3 Texas at halftime –> final score: 31-12
• Tennessee-NC State, Week 3: 20-3 Tennessee at halftime –> final score: 51-10

At the risk of putting too much weight into the results between teams that will have nothing to do with Saturday’s game, we’re counting on another emphatic statement by an SEC contender in this game and laying the points with the Crimson Tide.

In addition to Bama on the spread, two other solid plays are Wisconsin’s team total under and the first half under. The Badgers’ first two games both saw 20 or fewer points scored before halftime, and Bama-USF was 14-6 after 30 minutes.

Alabama vs. Wisconsin Best Bets

• Alabama -16 (-110 at DraftKings)
• Wisconsin Team Total Under 13.5 (+160 at bet365)
• First Half Total u23.5 (+115 at bet365)

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