Iowa at Ohio State College Football Betting Odds

Written November 13, 2009 by Rock Henderson

A berth to the Rose Bowl is on the line when the 10th ranked Iowa Hawkeyes travel to the horseshoe to battle the 11th ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. Iowa is coming off their first loss of the season to the Northwestern Wildcats 17-10. Starting QB Ricky Stanzi went down with a high ankle sprain in the second quarter and the Hawks were unable to pull off another miracle comeback. The Buckeyes notched their biggest win of the season at Penn State last weekend and put themselves in control of their own destiny to earn the Big Ten conference title. Ohio State is listed as an astonishing 16.5 point favorite according to the latest NCAA football betting lines.

Iowa’s 13 game winning streak came to an end last Saturday in stunning fashion as a 16 point favorite. Redshirt freshman James Vandenburg was thrust into the role of quarterback for the Hawks after the Stanzi injury that will keep him out for the next two weeks and struggled mightily, completing only 9 of 27 passes with an interception on his first pass of the game. It didn’t help that the Hawkeye running game never got on track as the closest they came to actually breaking one was Brandon Wegher’s 64 yard touchdown run that was called back due to a holding call. Iowa has been depleted by injuries, especially on offense where they can least afford them. Fans have been quite critical of the play of Stanzi for most of the season as his interceptions outnumbered his touchdown passes, but I am sure most are recanting their statements after the loss and performance of his backup. If the Hawks want to have any chance against Ohio State, they have to run the ball effectively so Vandenburg does not have to throw it almost 30 times in a hostile environment against the Big Ten’s top defensive unit. Kirk Ferentz will look to lead the Black and Gold to their first win at Ohio State since 1991. Pick up a $20 free play that you can use to bet college football when you open a new account with Sportsbook.com.

During the middle of the season, Ohio State was sitting at 5-2 overall and you would think that the Buckeye faithful were already looking forward to the 2010 season. Three straight wins have put them back into consideration for the Rose Bowl and a win Saturday would all but lock up a trip to Pasadena. Terrelle Pryor was a major reason why OSU was able to pull off a 24-7 upset of Penn State. The sophomore QB completed 5 of 8 passes in the second half as two went for touchdowns giving the Buckeyes control of the game. Pryor has had his ups and downs this season, but has seemingly got his act together at the right time for coach Tressel. He added a seven yard touchdown scamper against the Nittany Lions and totaled 50 yards rushing in all. The Buckeyes will see another strong defense on Saturday. Iowa is notorious for not blitzing and dropping seven in to coverage while having great success of pressuring the QB with just four rushers. Dual threat quarterbacks have given the Hawk D trouble in the past, however they did have success slowing down mobile Penn State QB Darryl Clark earlier this season. Ohio State’s key to the game is not turning the ball over and getting Terrelle Pryor to continue to make big plays.

No one would think that Iowa is the higher ranked team by looking at the almost 17 point spread set by Vegas. This tells you just how much Ricky Stanzi means to the Hawkeyes. While I think that James Vandenburg will be a very good quarterback in the near future, he looked awful against Northwestern and that was in the friendly confines of Kinnick Stadium. Iowa’s defense should keep them in the ball game for awhile. Expect the public to pound the Buckeyes so try to latch onto Iowa at 17 or above. Play: Iowa +16.5

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