College Football Betting: Iowa at Nebraska

Sports action will heat back up on the day after Thanksgiving with a full slate of games in college football, NBA and college hoops and NHL hockey. In this matchup a couple of Big 10 rivals go at it as the Nebraska Cornhuskers host the Iowa Hawkeyes. Both teams are having decent seasons–Nebraska is 8-3 SU on the year while Iowa is 7-4–but neither team will be able to catch Michigan State atop the Big 10 ‘Legends’ division.

Nebraska lost senior quarterback Taylor Martinez to injury earlier this season but have hardly missed a beat thanks to a very potent offense full of playmakers. The problem that has plagued Nebraska all season has been their defense. Their defense went into the toilet last year following Carl Pelini’s departure for Florida Atlantic University and there’s not much to suggest that it’ll improve until there are some tactical changes along the sidelines. The Cornhuskers aren’t a very good pointspread team–just 16-20 ATS since 2011. True, Iowa’s ATS record is even worse but the Hawkeyes have the superior defense. The Cornhuskers have gone to a quarterback ‘by committee’ situation since Martinez went down and have relied even more on a solid rushing attack. The problem here is that Iowa has been very effective in defending the run this season.

Second year offensive coordinator Greg Davis faced the challenge of transitioning to a new scheme this season and without a lot of playmaking talent on hand. The Hawkeyes averaged just 19 points per game last season but have been able to improve this year by a touchdown per game. Of course the salient component of this handicap is likely the defense and Nebraska has suffered a number of injuries along their offensive line which makes things even tougher for them here. In our view the points are the play in this matchup and we’re getting them with the better defensive team. Not sure that Nebraska has the versatility–or for that matter the personnel–to dent the tough Iowa stop unit in this matchup. We look for the Hawkeyes to win outright and at this price that’s all we need them to do.

BET IOWA +2′ OVER NEBRASKA