Arizona at Iowa College Football Predictions

Written September 16, 2009 by Rock Henderson

arizona-iowa-picks-091609 Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, IA will be the site for one of the more intriguing non-conference games of week 3. The Arizona Wildcats and Iowa Hawkeyes enter the game with 2-0 records and hope to build momentum for conference play with a win. Wildcat head coach Mike Stoops returns to his alma mater to take on a Hawkeye team that dismantled in state rival Iowa State to the tune of a 35-3 victory last weekend. Current college football lines have Iowa -5 against Arizona with a total set for 41 points.

Arizona began the 2009 season with a hard fought 19 to 6 victory against a tough Central Michigan team. They overmatched the Northern Arizona Lumberjacks to get their second win of the young year but the competition will go up a notch this Saturday night when they play under the lights at one of the toughest venues in all of college football. RB Nic Grigsby has led the offense totaling 325 yards and 3 touchdowns on the ground including a 94 yard scamper against NAU. Grigsby had a successful sophomore campaign running for 1153 yards and 13 touchdowns. The Arizona offense is not one dimensional however. QB Matt Scott has thrown for 352 yards and a touchdown along with running for 131 yards to keep defenses honest. The defensive side of the ball has been stingy in the early going and is led by MLB Vuna Tuihalamaka Sr. They have forced two turnovers in each of the first two games and will have opportunities Saturday night as Iowa QB Ricky Stanzi is turnover prone. Stoops has the program heading in the right direction with an 8-5 record in 2008 that included a 31 to 21 upset win over BYU in the Las Vegas Bowl. This would be a huge victory for the Cats as Iowa is the first of 3 straight games away from Arizona Stadium. If you bet college football, be sure you get a $500 match bonus from BetUS for opening a new account and making a $500 or more initial deposit.

It’s not often that a team drops 14 spots in a poll after a victory but that is exactly what the Iowa Hawkeyes did after their week 1 win over Northern Iowa. It could have actually been a good thing for the Hawks as they looked like a different team against Iowa State. The Iowa defense turned the Cyclones over 6 times including 5 interceptions that led to the blow out. QB Ricky Stanzi threw for 4 touchdown passes and true freshman RB Brandon Wegher broke the 100 yard plateau in his first action of the season finding the end zone once also. Wegher teams with red shirt freshman RB Adam Robinson to provide a 1-2 punch that Iowa fans should get use to for the considerable future. It will be interesting to see of OL Bryan Bulaga will be able to return this week. Bulaga is seen as a possible first round draft pick but his status is uncertain for the rest of the season after a heart ailment was found after the UNI game.

Iowa is an astonishing 15-1 in non conference home games coming into 2009. The line opened up at -5 favoring the Hawkeyes at home and has moved to -6 at some books. Iowa’s defense is stout against the run and their offense seemed to finally get on the same page in week 2. Play the Hawks at home here with any number under a touchdown.

Score Prediction: Iowa 21, Arizona 13

Rock’s Pick: Take Iowa Hawkeyes -5

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