November 4, 2017, can history repeat!
- Thread starter Iceman
- Start date
thedukeofearl
Well-Known Member
From The Athlete:
No. 5 Ohio State at No. 14 Iowa
Iowa has to be the most successful laughing stock in the history of college football. The Hawkeyes continue to evolve into more extreme versions of themselves, with their elite defenses and nonthreatening (sometimes embarrassing) offenses. For years, we’ve been able to look at Iowa games with betting totals listed below 30 and sometimes still see the under hit. What we haven’t seen is Iowa be bad.
For all of the snickering at Iowa’s style of play, the Hawkeyes have finished ranked in the final AP Top 25 in six of the last eight seasons and won a solid eight games in the other two years during that period.
Here Iowa is again, fresh off a last-second win at Michigan (which caused snickering from college football fans for a different reason). The Hawkeyes had seven points through three quarters, thanks to a kickoff return touchdown, yet still won 20-19 in Ann Arbor. Now Iowa is undefeated and ranked in the top 15 ahead of a showdown against Big Ten juggernaut Ohio State.
The Hawkeyes, of course, have the nation’s best scoring defense (allowing eight points per game) while Ohio State brings the second-best passing attack in the country at 365.3 yards per game. A major concern in this matchup should be Iowa’s secondary, which just gave up 276 yards through the air to Bryce Underwood last week, against Heisman favorite Jeremiah Smith — a big reason Ohio State is favored by two touchdowns.
