Penn State Nittany Lions Ready for Revenge Against the Iowa Hawkeyes
Week five in college football has a showdown in the Big Ten as the Penn St. Nittany Lions take on the Iowa Hawkeyes. The college football odds makers at BetMania have set the odds for this game and they have the Hawkeyes as a 6.5 point favorite.
Penn St enters this game with double revenge as they have not been able to beat the Hawkeyes in the last two meetings. This game is crucial in the Big Ten standings although it is early in the season as the winner has hopes of competing with Ohio St for the Big Ten title.
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Penn St faced off against Temple last Saturday in a tune up game, and got a little more than they bargained for.
They trailed early in the game and had to make adjustments to pull off the win. Kicker Collin Wagner tied a school record with five field goals and bailed out a stalling offense throughout the game.
Running back Evan Royster ran for a career-high 187 yards and the defense chipped in with some timely stops. They will have to play a complete game from start to finish if they want to upset Iowa.
Iowa rebounded from a loss against Arizona to rout visiting Ball St. Quarterback Ricky Stanzi threw for 288 yards and three touchdowns as he dissected the defense of Ball State.
The running game had no problem finding holes as Adam Robinson added 115 yards rushing and a pair of scores.
In short it was the perfect tune up game for Iowa, because they executed well on both sides of the ball and were able rest their starters. Head coach Kirk Ferentz got exactly what he was looking for in this game.
“We came out healthy, got the victory and got some of our younger, more inexperienced players, some valuable playing time,” Ferentz said.
The roles have changed in this series drastically over the last couple of years. Iowa is now the favorite and holds the higher ranking in the AP Top 25. Penn St is the underdog trying to achieve a big time victory that would enhance their resume.
The Nittany Lions are 18-6-2 against the spread (ATS) in their last 26 games in October and 5-2 ATS in the last seven conference games.
Iowa is 3-8 ATS in their last 11 games after scoring more than 40 points and the underdog in this series is 8-2 ATS in the last ten meetings. That trend continues as this game goes down to the wire.
Penn St will provide a stern challenge for the Hawkeyes, but I am not convinced they can win on the road. In a game that should be decided by a field goal or less, the play is Penn St plus the points.
Iowa 17, Penn St 14
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Matt Regaw is a B/R Featured Columnist and the founder of BookieBlitz.com, your one-stop shop for sports articles, previews, and predictions. Feel Free to contact Matt at mregaw@gmail.com
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