Penn St vs Iowa in the Sportsbook

In a battle between two Top 25 teams, the #20 Penn State Nittany Lions travel to Iowa City to take on the #18 Iowa Hawkeyes. Both teams are 3-0 on the season with their losses coming against much higher ranked opponents.

Penn State lost 24-3 to the #1 Alabama Crimson Tide and Iowa lost 34-27 to the #15 Arizona Wildcats.

Let’s look at the teams, trends and sportsbook lines to make a prediction on this Big 10 clash.

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The college football odds makers have set the sportsbook line favoring the Hawkeyes by -7-points. A straight up bet on the Nittany Lions will pay bettors +240 on the moneyline. The game total is set at 40½ points.

NCAAF Betting Lines

October 2, 2010

Penn State Nittany Lions +7 -110 +240

Iowa Hawkeyes -7 -110 -290

Game Total 40½

Location: Kinnick Stadium – Iowa City IA

Game Time: 8:00pm

TV: ABC

Coach Joe Paterno doesn’t have many years left but his Penn State Nittany Lions are still playing hard for the old football coach as evident with their 3-1 record. The bettors haven’t been as pleased, the team is just 1-3 against the spread and three of their four games this season have gone under the total.

Much of the on field success and sports book failure of Penn State has been the result of freshman quarterback Rob Bolden’s play this season.

Bolden has completed 60.2% of his passes for 823 yards and three touchdowns. He’s thrown five interceptions so far and he’ll need to take more care when targeting his receivers. When you start an 18 year old, you have to expect these mistakes.

The offensive line for Penn State is a little banged up, so Bolden’s interceptions are likely to rise after this game.

Bolden’s top target Derek Moye has 15 catches for 244 yards but has yet to find the end zone.

Penn State’s defense is excellent against the pass, limiting opponents to 158.5 passing yards a game this season.

They are the ninth ranked defense in the nation by limiting opponents to just 12.8 points a game.

The Iowa Hawkeyes starting quarterback Ricky Stanzi is in his senior year and he’s making the most of his final season. Stanzi is completing 66.7% of his passes for 999 yards, 9 touchdowns and just one interception. He’ll need to be on his game to keep the Nittany Lions from grabbing a pass or two.

Running back Adam Robinson leads the team with 385 yards and six touchdowns.

The Hawkeyes have been brilliant on defense. They have the number one ranked defense in the nation giving up only 227.5 total yards a game on the strength of their number 5-ranked run-defense.

This game won’t do much to endear the Nittany Lions to the Sportsbook bettors. The Hawkeyes defense will all but eliminate the run game of Penn State. This will force the young Bolden to make plays and he’s still too erratic to trust with my money. Take the Iowa Hawkeyes to cover the sportsbook spread of -7-points.

NCAAF Betting Pick: Iowa Hawkeyes -7

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