MLB Best Bets – Free (Wednesday 7/24)
Josh Gross
Week 1 of the college football season brought powerhouse matchups, amazing finishes and thrilling upsets. We expected nothing less. The best part was hitting key bets that we covered throughout the week leading up to gameday.
The second week comes with more clarity of what to expect. While we don’t want to overreact to what we saw, certainly some adjustments will come. This is especially true for the Iowa Hawkeyes and Iowa State Cyclones.
We’ll look at each team’s profile entering the game and project the best values throughout the betting world.
We have you covered from every angle of this matchup. Let’s dig in.
Iowa Hawkeyes vs. Iowa State Cyclones Week 2 odds
Here is a look at the Week 1 betting odds between Iowa and Iowa State (odds courtesy DraftKings Sportsbook).
- Iowa State -3.5 (-105)
- Over/Under: 44.5 (-110)
- Moneyline: Iowa State -165, Iowa +145
Iowa Hawkeyes vs. Iowa State Cyclones game preview
Here’s a look at the preview between two college football playoff hopefuls in Iowa and Iowa State for Week 2.
Iowa State offense vs. Iowa defense
Despite entering the season with a Heisman hopeful at running back (Breece Hall) and a fourth-year quarterback (Brock Purdy), the Iowa State offense looked trapped in mud against Northern Iowa in Week 1. Were they simply looking ahead to Iowa? It’s possible, but the Cyclones’ passing attack looked more like the benign 2020 version of itself than their once-powerful version.
The Cyclones sustained a couple of drives that ultimately resulted in scoring opportunities, but there was a concerning lack of explosiveness from the unit. They lost in the trenches against a considerably worse team and relied upon UNI’s mistakes to win.
Purdy was efficient but couldn’t find deeper targets open. Star receiver Xavier Hutchinson led the team with 88 yards, and the longest completion on the team at 39 yards. More is needed against Iowa.
Hall also looked pedestrian. He totaled 69 yards and one score. While nice, Hall will be required to average over 100 yards per game for this team to be threatening on offense.
Iowa will take what Northern Iowa did and make it all more difficult. Their secondary has more playmaking in it than UNI, and the run defense is stout. This group made an explosive Indiana offense look meek and incapable of competing.
The Hawkeyes own the advantage here. Hall is good enough to make something happen for the Cyclones to keep them in the game, but Purdy is the one who must step up for them to win.
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Iowa offense vs. Iowa State defense
There’s no question that, as ugly as things were for Iowa State against UNI, Iowa didn’t fare much better against Indiana. The Hawkeyes were able to create some rushing success for Tyler Goodson and backup Ivory Kelly-Martin, but the passing game was abysmal. This has been the same story for a few years.
Nevertheless, Iowa dominates in the trenches and their defense-first approach still works. Goodson is excellent at maximizing what he can for being a good but not elite athlete. He’ll be the feature piece of this offense once again even though the Cyclones have a quality front seven.
The combination of Goodson and receiver Sam LaPorta is good enough for Iowa if their defense can produce advantageous starting field positions like they did against Indiana. Short of forcing three interceptions, Spencer Petras has to complete more than half his passes for a measly 145 yards.
Expect Iowa State to key into this weakness and sell out to stop the Iowa run game. Most teams try and fail. Iowa State has the size, discipline, and physicality to execute.
Betting trends for Iowa vs. Iowa State
Iowa has covered the spread in six of their last seven contests. They’ve hit under in 12 of 18 games and have won three games in a row against Iowa State.
The Cyclones have covered four of six, and also hit the under in five of those six. The Cyclones have lost five of their last six games at home against Iowa.
CFB Betting picks – Iowa vs. Iowa State
This will be an ugly game but one that comes down to the wire. Both teams will beg their quarterback to make a play. Iowa has a more confident team and has continued to outplay the Cyclones over the last few years. At worst, the Hawkeyes cover in a low-scoring game.
Best bets: Iowa +3.5 (-105) and Under 44.5 (-110)
