Iowa at Iowa State Betting Line

Written by Steve Janus

This Saturday the Iowa Hawkeyes and Iowa State Cyclones will square off in a classic in-state rivalry game. The Hawkeyes opened up the year with an easy 34-7 win over Tennessee Tech. Things didn’t go so easily for the Cyclones, who needed a late touchdown to beat Northern Iowa 20-19. The Hawkeyes have rolled off three straight wins over Iowa State, including a 35-7 win at home last year and a 35-3 win in their last trip to Ames. Iowa State had won the previous two games at home. Kickoff is scheduled for 12:00 ET.

Current college football odds have Iowa favored by 6.5-points over Iowa State with the total set at 44.

Iowa

The Hawkeyes have to be impressed with starting quarterback James Vandenberg, who completed 13-21 for 219 yards and two touchdowns. Those numbers would have likely been even better if it wasn’t for rainy conditions. Two of those touchdown passes went to star wide out Marvin McNutt, who caught a team-high six passes for 140 yards. Look for Vandenberg to spread the ball around more to wide out Keenan Davis and tight end Brad Herman as the season goes on.

Iowa wasn’t as sharp in the ground game. Starting running back Marcus Coker had trouble holding onto the football, and was replaced early by freshman Mika’il McCall. While McCall looked impressive in his debut, his time on the field was ended quickly with a broken ankle that will sideline him for the rest of the season. Coker ended up finishing with 41 yards on 11 carries. Coker has a great chance of redeeming himself this week, as the Cyclones gave up 204 rushing yards to UNI last week.

Defensively the Hawkeyes allowed 296 yards of total offense, but didn’t give up any points until late in the fourth quarter with the game out of reach. Corner Shaun Prater returned an interception 89 yards for a touchdown with just 10 seconds left in the first half.

Iowa State

The Cyclones got everything they could handle from UNI last week, but made the plays when they needed to be made late in the game. Steele Jantz had a rough day throwing the football, completing 18 of 40 for 187 yards with 1 touchdown and three interceptions., but he made up for it on the ground. Jantz rushed it 20 times for 80 yards and two scores. The weather was also miserable for the Cyclones game, so I would expect to see better numbers in the passing game.

The concern for the Cyclones has to be the lack of running game outside of Jantz. Starting running back Shontrelle Johnson had a rough start to the season. He had just 27 yards on nine attempts with a fumble. Backup James White was the most impressive back, carrying it five times for 32 yards.

The player that has to have Iowa State fans excited is true freshman wide out Aaron Horne, who caught a team-high seven passes for 69 yards. Josh Lenz hauled in three passes including a 26 yards touchdown pass from Jantz. Senior Darius Reynolds also had three catches, but totaled just 27 yards. Look for these three to see a lot of balls come their way against the Hawkeyes on Saturday.

Betting Trends:

Iowa is just 3-10 ATS in their last 13 games against Iowa State

Iowa is 8-2 ATS in their last 10 non-conference games.

Iowa State is 7-20 ATS in their last 27 games as an underdog of 3.5-10.0.

Be sure to check out what Steve Janus has to offer this week in college football.

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