The line is not what the "experts" think the actual margin of victory will be-- it's the spread they give to entice the most people to bet the most money. They win by keeping the vig--the more that is bet, the more they win, though it's important to move the spread if too much money comes in for one team. If they can piss off State fans to plunk down more, or coax delusional Bear fans into thinking they are going to win, that's their goal. Of course, in-state betting will be dwarfed by national betting. I'm not really surprised at the line. State beat the spread 5 out of 10 games (there was no offical Vegas line for the JSU game) which is obviously about average. TSUNs "moral victories" still beat the spread. They ended up covering 9 out of 11 times this year, mostly because no one expected them to do anything. Even though they keep losing the games, by covering, they burned a lot of bettors who expected nothing from them. Vegas has "favored" them in the Egg Bowl mostly to lure people back into thinking the Bears might actually be competitive--whatever it takes to get the money moving. It will be interesting to see where the line goes from here. If it drops, no one is taking the bait, and the real money is coming in on MSU.