The Athletic - predictions

[mopkins]

I know Vegas is smarter than I am, but I don't get the Iowa State -4.5 over Iowa line. I assumed ISU might have been like a 1 point favorite since they're at home, but 4.5? ISU lost by far their best RB and their best WR. Montgomery led ISU in rushing 11 out of 13 games last year and Butler led ISU in receiving 10 of 13 games. those are massive losses for an offense

Not to mention ISU nearly lost to Drake last year and every time they played a decent defense (Iowa, TCU, Texas) they got shut the F down.

ISU does have a weird scheduling quirk where they have a week 2 bye. Some people will call that an advantage, but coming off a game vs UNI that early in the year what have you really learned about your team?

 

[mopkins]

BTW, to me 8 wins seems right for Iowa but I'm not touching that bet. Their schedule is pretty brutal. That 5 game stretch of Michigan, Penn State, Purdue, NW, and Wisconsin is just too tough to survive cleanly. If they lose to ISU and Michigan early in the year, which will be expected to happen by the "experts", the wheels could fall off and Iowa could suddenly find themselves at 4-5 or 3-6...which would be tough to swallow for Stanley's senior year and AJ's final year.

 

[iloveyoularrystation]

In this thread we went from vegas, to tom petty, to roy orbison, and through in a ric flair 4 horseman line. My only question is who will end up with a tattoo of kirk ferentz on their fanny because what mama knows won't hurt her.