Northwestern vs. Iowa College Football Picks: Iowa, ranked No. 4 in the BCS poll, will have an opportunity to improve to 10-0 overall, 6-0 in the Big Ten Conference when it hosts the Northwestern Wildcats (5-4, 2-3) on Saturday with a Noon ET kick-off. The Hawkeyes will be looking to break a two games losing streak to the Wildcats in Kinnick Stadium.
College picks oddsmakers at SPORTSBETTING.COM list Iowa as 15 1/2-chalk favorites versus the Wildcats with a 45 total.
Northwestern's nationally ranked passing offense gains an average of nearly 270 yards per game. That will undoubtedly challenge the Hawkeyes on Saturday
Wildcats quarterback Mike Kafka, who left last week's 34-13 loss to Penn State with a hamstring injury, is expected to play against the Hawkeyes. Kafka leads the conference in total offense (271.4 yards per game) and passing yards per game (243.9). Before Kafka's injury, the Wildcats led Penn State, 13-10.
The Hawkeyes are 13th in the nation in scoring defense (15.8 points per game) and 19th in total defense (297.6). Iowa is third in the nation in pass efficiency defense and third in the Big Ten in pass defense, allowing 180.1 yards per game.
Following Iowa's 13th consecutive victory last week and its ninth in a row to start the season, a lot of talk has begun swirling about the loftiness of the Hawkeye's national ranking. Ferentz emphasized that he couldn't care less.
"I am so uninterested in that right now," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. "We'll probably end up where we belong at the end of the day. The drama and the suspense is not killing me. I can assure you it's not killing me. The suspense about this week, that's a little more prominent in my thought process right now."
College Football Picks: We like Northwestern getting the +15 1/2 chalk in this game.
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