WagerTalk college football handicapper Adam Trigger<\/a> offers his Iowa vs Penn State Big Ten betting preview. At the time of posting, the Hawkeyes are a -1.5 home favorite over the Nittany Lions with the total sitting at 41 points.<\/p>\n Stay on top of the latest College Football<\/a> updates direct from Las Vegas!<\/em><\/p>\n The football weekend is well underway thanks to a couple of weeknight plays but I\u2019ll start filling the card out with plays for Saturday and we will start in the Big Ten with the biggest game in College Football this week when the #3 Iowa Hawkeyes take on the #4 Penn State Nittany Lions at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa.<\/p>\n I took it on the chin betting against Iowa last week as Maryland turned the ball over seven times in what ended up being a 51-14 mauling by Iowa but I\u2019m still not sold on the Hawkeyes being a top 3 team in college football. Iowa\u2019s defense is outstanding but the Hawkeyes offense has been pedestrian and sooner or later Iowa is going to run into a team that takes care of the football and the Hawkeyes aren\u2019t going to be able to pad their numbers with defensive scores. Iowa is taking the ball away from their opponents at such an alarming rate there\u2019s just no way the Hawkeyes can sustain what they have done to this point defensively. Penn State is one of the elite teams in college football this season, the Nittany Lions have turned the ball over just three times this year and are a very solid +6 in turnover margin. Penn State has proven they can play mistake free football and they have done it against quality teams like Wisconsin and Auburn. Iowa\u2019s offense hasn\u2019t moved the ball consistently, Penn State isn\u2019t going to gift the Hawkeyes points and I think that is going to make it extremely difficult for Iowa to win here.<\/p>\n Iowa enters play with one of the worst passing offenses in the country led by quarterback Spencer Petras who is a game manager more than anything. Petras is your typical Iowa quarterback, he rarely makes mistakes and he\u2019s there to hand the ball off and facilitate an Iowa rushing attack that isn\u2019t as good this year as it\u2019s been in years past. Iowa averages 320 yards of total offense per game which is a dismal 109th out of 130 FBS teams. Penn State ranks third nationally in scoring defense, the Nittany Lions shut out Indiana last time out and have held their opponent under 300 yards of total offense in back-to-back games. Many will view this as a step up for Penn State but Wisconsin, Indiana and Auburn all have more productive offenses than Iowa does this season. Penn State allowed 10, 0 and 20 points to those three teams respectively, I think there\u2019s a good chance the Nittany Lions hold Iowa to 20 or less here and if they do I fully expect this to be a Penn State win.<\/p>\n Penn State\u2019s biggest issue offensively has been their ability to run the ball but it\u2019s unlikely any team is going to have any real success running the ball against Iowa. What Penn State does have is a quarterback in Sean Clifford with the ability to make plays and if he makes his throws, and keeps mistakes at a minimum, I think the Nittany Lions will be able to move the ball enough to have the upper hand here. Maryland had receivers open last week, the problem for the Terrapins was for every good play they made there was an ill advised throw on another down from Taulia Tagovailoa and five of them were picked off. Maryland\u2019s backup threw the sixth interception and there\u2019s just no way for any team to overcome that many mistakes in one game. Clifford doesn\u2019t need to take chances like Tagovailoa did because Penn State has a defense capable of going stop for stop with Iowa here. There\u2019s no reason for Clifford to throw into coverage and if Iowa isn\u2019t forcing turnover after turnover the Iowa offense is likely not finding themselves in a short field where it\u2019s far easier to score. I think Penn State is going to be content playing the field position game here because Iowa hasn\u2019t shown the ability to sustain drives, I think that keeps the Nittany Lions out of turning it over and I don\u2019t think Iowa can beat an elite team without the defense providing some of the offense like they have been all season.<\/p>\n I didn\u2019t have Iowa in my Top 20 coming into the season so I\u2019m just not buying them as the #3 team in the country here. I do, on the other hand, think Penn State is elite and the Nittany Lions have managed to go 5-0 and knock off two ranked teams despite being awful on third down so far this season. The reason for that is Penn State hasn\u2019t run the ball well but I have that as somewhat of a moot point since there really isn\u2019t a team out there that\u2019s going to be able to run it consistently on Iowa. This game is about Clifford\u2019s ability to make plays but, more importantly, protect the football. If Clifford does that Penn State wins and we have the added bonus of getting a free point to work with in a game that\u2019s likely close and should be a pick. Play on Penn State +1.5 (-110) for 4% (or 4 units).<\/strong><\/p>\n \ud83c\udfc85% #CollegeFootball<\/a> MAX BET\ud83c\udfc8<\/p>\n 25-11 overall run. Love this #CFB<\/a> & it goes on FRIDAY NIGHT<\/p>\n I have a #NFL<\/a> #bestbet<\/a> tonight. Great time to try a 3 or 7 day pass!<\/p>\n Let\u2019s stay hot \ud83d\udd25\ud83d\udd25\ud83d\udd25\ud83d\udd25<\/p>\n Up now only @WagerTalk<\/a>#GamblingTwitter<\/a>#CollegeFootball<\/a>#NCAAF<\/a>https:\/\/t.co\/rFCFyQeegg<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Adam Trigger (@TopFlightSI) October 7, 2021<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\nIowa vs Penn State Betting Preview<\/h3>\n
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