Orange Bowl Betting Preview – Iowa Hawkeyes vs. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets

A high octane offense from Georgia Tech will do whatever it takes to dilute the effectiveness of Iowa’s insanely tough defense to earn an Orange Bowl victory.

Spreading out the offense has translated in to a mountain of unexpected success for the Yellow Jackets, and Coach Paul Johnson deserves credit for crafting a creative and effective offense that racked up an average of 24.9 points per game in a tough ACC Conference this year. Iowa will arrive at their big dance relying on defense, defense, defense. In football, you live and die by the sword.

The question is which blade will be sharper in Miami: the sharp edge of Georgia’s offense or the blunt force of Iowa’s incredible defense?

As a college football betting favorite, Georgia Tech went 8-2 ATS this season after opening the season with two losses against the oddsmakers. Defying logic and capitalizing on a confusing and muddled playoff picture in the BCS allowed Georgia Tech to crack the BCS for the first time in its entire history. This will be the first bowl game appearance by the Jackets in a BCS game.

Georgia Tech -5.5 vs Iowa >> Join to Bet Now!

Quarterback Josh Nesbitt has thrown a completion percentage of 47.7 this season, with just 10 touchdown passes. A quarterback rating of 156.78 is misleading largely because he attempted just 153 passes this year. The true backbone of the Tech offense is a running game spearheaded by both Nesbitt and Jonathan Dwyer who totaled a staggering 32 touchdowns on the ground. Though Iowa is a top-10 defense with just 15.5 points against per game, they have not faced an offense as creative and dynamic as the one presented by Georgia Tech.

Iowa Hawkeyes (10-2) vs. Georgia Tech Yellow Jackets (11-2)

Tuesday, January 5th
Land Shark Stadium, Miami — 8:10pm EST

NCAAF Betting Line: Georgia Tech -5.5 (51)

The Hawkeyes will get a huge shot in the arm with the return of quarterback Ricky Stanzi who threw for 2,186 yards and 15 touchdowns despite missing the final two games for Iowa during the regular college football betting season. Iowa went 6-3 ATS with Stanzi at the helm, and fell to 1-1 ATS, including a devastating loss to the Minnesota Golden Gophers to end their season.

Of course, it’s the defensive personnel of the Hawkeyes that will be under the heat of the spotlight tonight. They allow just 164.7 passing yards and 122.0 yards rushing against per game, but will need some serious help from their offense to keep this game close. Tech has all the weapons on offense to terrorize the Hawkeyes and while the defense is one of the best in the country, Tech is in the Orange Bowl because of an exiting offense that has been difficult for teams to keep off the board.

At the end of the day, Iowa doesn’t have the offensive punch that Tech does and the ability to change things up will keep Iowa’s defense off kilter while they play guessing games. The Hawkeyes will love having Stanzi back under center, but an ankle injury that is being largely underplayed will have a more dramatic effect on this bowl game than many college betting experts think. It’s a tight race, but Tech’s unrelenting offense will prevail over Iowa’s defense.

Furious Free Pick: Georgia Tech -5.5 (UNDER)