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Michigan remains title favorite as sportsbooks shrug off Jim Harbaugh suspension

If the Big Ten thought it was handing down a season-altering suspension by removing Michigan head coach Jim Harbaugh from the sidelines with three weeks left in conference play, sportsbooks aren’t buying it.

The stunning decision in the sign-stealing saga on Friday will allow Harbaugh to coach his team throughout the week, but he cannot be in the stadium on game days. That was apparently more than enough to convince oddsmakers to do almost nothing when it comes to how they power rank the Wolverines.

Not only did the spread for Saturday’s game at Penn State remain unchanged with Michigan still a 4.5-point favorite at most books, its title odds barely moved at all.

Harbaugh’s team is still the national title favorite at BetMGM (+225). Michigan holds the second-best championship odds at DraftKings (+250), FanDuel (+280) and Caesars (+240). Each of those three books has Georgia listed as the odds-on favorite.

At BetMGM in particular, there is already a significant amount of money wagered on Michigan to win the College Football Playoff this year. That may explain why oddsmakers are hesitant to decrease its odds and give Wolverines backers more of a reason to add on.

Michigan accounts for the highest amount of bets placed (13.5%) and the second-highest total handle, or money wagered, (10.9%) to win the title.

We’ll see if there’s any late movement on the Penn State game Saturday morning before kickoff. For now it doesn’t appear oddsmakers think Harbaugh’s suspension will make much of an impact.

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