The Penn State Nittany Lions vs. Iowa Hawkeyes Betting Odds opened at Penn State -8 as the road favorite. Sports Interaction had dropped the line down to -7 heading into Tuesday morning. Most books had the line at -7 ½ and it appeared the trend would be for this line to drop to -7 or lower at most betting establishments.
The away team is 6-4 in this series going all the way back to 1994. A more telling stat is that Iowa is 5-1 over the last 6 in this series.
Even though Penn State is undefeated at 9-0, you really gotta like Iowa covering by 7 points considering the past history between these two teams. Then again, maybe not. Penn State beat Iowa their last meeting at home by 20 points.
The Nittany Lions are 7-1-1 ATS in their last 9 games overall and are 6-1-1 ATS in their last 8 games following a S.U. win.
The Hawkeyes are 36-16 ATS in their last 52 home games and 4-1 ATS in their last 5 games following a ATS loss.
Coming fresh off a bye week, the Hawkeyes traveled to Illinois to take on the Fighting Illini. After falling behind by 15 early in the fourth quarter, Iowa battled back to tie the game with less than three minutes remaining. Illinois would respond, however, by marching down the field and drilling the game-winning field goal with 24 seconds remaining to hand the Hawkeyes a 27-24 defeat.
John Kerth of HawkeyeReport.com writes:
For the fourth time this season, the Hawkeyes suffered a close, heart-breaking loss. They actually played relatively well on both sides of the ball, but the problems that have plagued them on offense in their earlier losses (third down conversions, red zone efficiency, turnovers) ended up hurting them once again. The most puzzling aspect of this loss was the decision not to ride Greene, even with Stanzi struggling. Although he did tweak his ankle in the first quarter, the fact that he ended up with just 21 carries is a little surprising.
With the loss, the Hawkeyes dropped their ninth-straight decision in games decided by three points or less. When things were going well for the Hawkeyes in 2002-2004, Iowa always seemed to do the things needed to win the close games. Since then, things seem to be breaking in the opposite direction.
Betting against Penn State would be tough here but Iowa sure is tempting. Gambling911.com will sit out of this one however.
Don Shapiro, Gambling911.com
