Minnesota Golden Gophers vs Iowa Hawkeyes Odds & Game Pick (2019 College Football)
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The most meaningful battle in recent memory for the Floyd of Rosedale trophy will kick off Saturday afternoon in Iowa City when the seventh-ranked Minnesota Golden Gophers travel to Iowa City to take on the Hawkeyes. While Minnesota very much controls their own destiny both in the Big Ten West and national conversation, Iowa will look to play the role of spoiler in a game they have had circled on their calendars since summer. The Golden Gophers likely have had this game circled for other reasons, losing last season’s contest 31-48 for what was their fourth loss in a row in this series. With so much at stake, let’s take a deeper look at this Big Ten West matchup and see where we can find an edge.
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Minnesota Golden Gophers @ Iowa Hawkeyes
Saturday, November 16th, 2019 – 4:00 pm EST
Iowa -3, O/U 44 (via PointsBet)
One week after defeating the then number four-ranked Penn State Nittany Lions 31-26, Golden Gopher’s head coach PJ Fleck will face one of the toughest challenges of his coaching career this Saturday in minimizing the letdown spot most programs would face. After taking an early 7-0 lead following a 66-yard pass from Tanner Morgan, Minnesota never trailed, leading the Nittany Lions wire to wire, though they held on for dear life as time expired. Despite winning, Minnesota was doubled up in yards per rush (6.1 to 3.0) and lost the total yardage battle by 58. Their defenses’ ability to force Penn State quarterback Sean Clifford into three interceptions was the story of the game for Minnesota, as well as breaking off two 45+ yard touchdowns in the first quarter. Sophomore wide receiver Rashod Bateman hauled in one of those touchdowns, accounting for 66 of his 203 yards on the day, a career-high. The Golden Gophers will now be underdogs for just the third time this season as they head to Iowa City Saturday. Over their nine games to start the season, Minnesota is 7-2-1 ATS and is covering by an average of 15.3 points over their last three games.
The Hawkeyes will look to avoid back-to-back losses for the second time this season, narrowly losing last week on the road at Wisconsin to put their quest for a Big Ten West title on the ropes and all but out of each. In last week’s 22-24 loss to the Badgers, Iowa struggled to stop Wisconsin from running the ball, allowing back Jonathan Taylor to total 250 yards from scrimmage. Assuming last week’s performance is an outlier and not regression, Iowa still owns one of the best defensive units in all of college football, currently fourth in the FBS in allowing just 11.7 points per game. Against the passing game, an area Minnesota thrives and will be looking to cash in on, the Hawkeyes rank 10th in the nation in allowing just 176.9 passing yards per game. If the Hawkeyes want to take home the Floyd of Rosedale on Saturday evening, senior quarterback Nate Stanley will need one of the biggest performances of his season in what could be one of his last appearances at Kinnick Stadium.
Bottom Line?
Over their last five games, Minnesota has outscored their opponents by an average of 26.4 points per game, and ATS backers were never left with a sweat. While Iowa has been a great story this season in what is head coach Kirk Ferentz’s 21st season at the helm, the seams are starting to crack as they’ve lost all three games they have been underdogs thus far. Their stout defense was made irrelevant in their sputtering offense’s inability to overcome their incompetence in their three losses this season, all against equal or lesser opponents than Minnesota. This is as much a play on Minnesota as it is in my lack of confidence in Stanley to play well when it matters, something he has failed to do his whole career. In what I expect to be a low scoring, back and forth affair, I like the Golden Gophers to pull away late to take a commanding lead in the Big Ten West.
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TJ Perun is a featured writer at BettingPros. For more from TJ, check out his archive and follow him @JohnnyCovers.