The Insight Bowl, that's played at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe, Arizona, has ended up with one of the better matchups of the lower tier bowls. Tuesday night, 12th ranked Missouri will tangle with Iowa, a team that was ranked most of the year until a late season fade. The Insight Bowl kicks off at 10 pm ET and will be televised by ESPN.
Oddsmakers at most offshore sports spreads wagering sites, list Mizzou as a -3 spreads favorite versus Iowa with a 46 total. Hawkeyes backers are getting +125 moneyline odds as the Insight Bowl underdog while Missouri is giving -145 odds as the favorite.
It's often a fine line that defines a college football team headed for BCS glory or one destined for a lower tier bowl. Tuesday's Insight Bowl has matched up two teams that with a little luck could be playing on the big stage. For two-thirds of the 2010 season the BIG TEN Conference was a Four-Headed Monster with Wisconsin, Ohio State, Michigan State and Iowa. Then the season turned south for the Hawkeyes as they lost their last three games, falling out of the league's stretch run. Iowa lost those three games by a total of 10 points combined. And what was unforgivable for Iowa, was dropping its final game at Minnesota, a bad team that had fired its coach.
The 2010 season wasn't as harsh on 12th ranked Missouri, but still a season that fans and players thought could have been better. Mizzou opened the season with seven straight SU wins, highlighted by a home victory over then No. 1 ranked Oklahoma on Oct. 23. However, the victory over OU was the years pinnicle, as the then 6th Tigers failed to perform on the road at Nebraska a week later losing to the Cornhuskers by two touchdowns. Missouri failed to get the Nebraska loss cleared from their heads, and suffered a hangover (17-24) loss at Texas Tech the next week. Since those back to back losses, Missouri rebounded winning its final three games over Kansas State, Iowa State and Kansas.
On the season, Missouri covered betting spreads in six of 11 games while Iowa went 5-5-1 ATS. In totals betting, the combined score went UNDER in four of Missouri's last five games and went UNDER in Iowa's last five games.
Insight Bowl Predictions : I look for Iowa to pull an upset tonight. After spiraling to end the season, the talented Hawkeyes will have regrouped by now and will be looking to end the season on a positive note. BEST BET – Iowa +3.
