Iowa vs. Minnesota: College Football Week 8 Odds & Picks

I thought we had the Colorado game wrapped up last week but the 2nd-half collapse was jaw-dropping and frustrating.  I like some teams coming off bye this week and I'm going to double-tap Florida State and against Auburn that paid off last week. Here are all of my best bets for the week. Below we dive into Iowa vs. Minnesota.

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College Football Week 8 Picks & Predictions: Iowa vs. Minnesota

Week 6 Record: 4-6 | 2023 Record: 34-36 | Odds courtesy of DraftKings Sportsbook

Iowa vs. Minnesota

The question here to me is will Minnesota score?  They are coming off a bye which is nice but Iowa has only allowed Penn State to move the ball and they are a legit playoff contender.  Outside of the 31 points Penn State scored, Michigan State's 16 is the most points this Iowa defense has allowed.

The Battle for the Axe is going to be slow, boring, and involve a ton of defense.  Iowa is Top-10 in scoring defense and ranks in the 30s in rushing and passing defense. Both of these defenses are +10 in turnovers and we'll see some in this game for sure but these grotesque offenses will have to score to take advantage of them. 

Minnesota QB Athan Kaliakmanis isn't lighting the world on fire but he hasn't turned the ball over at an alarming rate either.  He also is not putting this team in a position to score many points.  The Gophers rank 111th in scoring and have been held to under 14 points in 4-of-6 games so far this season. 

Deacon Hill isn't striking fear into the hearts of opposing defenses but he's done enough to beat the last three Iowa opponents by more than 3.5 and I think with the defense playing the way it is they won't have to do much on offense to cover this 3.5 point spread.  

Bet: Iowa -3.5 (-110)

-Scott Bogman

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