Familiar Foes Meet Up in Nashville
Matching up opponents for bowl games can be a roulette wheel at times, but the ball has landed on the Iowa Hawkeyes vs the Kentucky Wildcats for the second straight season. Kentucky edged out the Hawkeyes 20-17 in the 2022 Citrus Bowl, and the Music City Bowl will likely be a very similar defensive battle.
Iowa had a lousy defense to start with and is down to their QB3, while the Wildcats lost two offensive stars to NFL Draft preparations. In a challenging game to set the college football odds for, the Hawkeyes are a -2 point favorite.
Let’s check the latest college football odds, stats, injury reports and college football lines for Iowa vs Kentucky. We’ve plenty of NCAA football odds for you to consider.
Iowa to Rely on Defense … Again.
The Hawkeyes went on to have moderate success as a 7-5 team, but Iowa’s season is still kind of trademarked by a season-opening win over South Dakota State, where it had more punts (10) than points in the 7-3 victory.
That would prove to be a microcosm of the season for the Hawkeyes, who had the defense to win nearly every game. And that unit had to be near perfect because the offense was so anemic. That was on display in Week 2 in a 10-7 loss to rival Iowa State and Week 6 when falling 9-6 at Illinois. Beating the Illini would have had Iowa in the Big Ten Championship Game instead of Purdue.
Iowa did show some signs of life on offense en route to winning four of its last five games, putting up 24+ points in three, which raised its season average to 17.4. The Hawkeyes will have a tough time keeping that going in Saturday’s college football picks, though, as QB1 Spencer Petras is out with a shoulder injury and QB2 Alex Padilla has entered the transfer portal. Joey Labas will be the likely starter in the Music City Bowl and his next pass attempt will be his first collegiate one.
No Swan Song for Kentucky Stars
The risk/reward doesn’t fit for Kentucky quarterback Will Levis, who will skip the game since he’s been projected as high as the No. 1 pick in next spring’s NFL Draft. Levis’ numbers did drop a bit this season, throwing for 2,406 yards with 19 touchdowns and 10 interceptions after throwing for 2,593 yards with 23 and 12 in 2021. Levis threw for 233 yards against Iowa in last year’s Citrus Bowl, but 170 of those went to Wan’Dale Robinson, who is now in the NFL.
The Wildcats were 45th in the nation in yards/game in 2021, but that has dropped to 107th this season. One huge reason is that the running game was not as effective, with Chris Rodriguez, Jr. missing time at the beginning of the season due to an offseason incident. Rodriguez still finished with 903 yards in eight games, but he had 1,378 last season and is also opting out of the Music City Bowl for NFL Draft prep.
Kaiya Sheron was the only Wildcats player besides Levis to throw a pass, so he’ll likely get thrown into the fire to start against the Hawkeyes’ top-five defense. When you bet online for this game, the total is just 31 points.
Iowa vs Kentucky Game Injuries
Iowa vs Kentucky Head-to-Head
Kentucky won last year’s meeting 20-17 as a -3 favorite.
Iowa vs Kentucky Game Information
- Game: Iowa (7-5) vs Kentucky (7-5)
- Location: Nissan Stadium, Nashville TN
- Day/Time: Saturday, Dec. 31st, Noon ET
- Iowa vs Kentucky Live Stream: ESPN
Iowa vs Kentucky Betting Lines
Iowa vs Kentucky Picks & Prediction
This is a challenging game to look at for the sportsbook because both offenses are in limbo. Life without Levis had to start some time for Kentucky, but this kicks off an offseason of transition.
Iowa has two things going for it: an elite defense and the revenge factor. The Hawkeyes had won three straight bowl games before last year’s loss in the Citrus Bowl. The Hawkeyes were also supposed to play in the 2020 Music City Bowl, but that was canceled due to Covid-19, so this game is a long time coming.
The Iowa Hawkeyes are listed at -130 in our Vegas NCAAF lines. This means that if you wager $100 on Hawkeyes , you have a chance to win $77. The Kentucky Wildcats are +110, offering a chance to win $110 on a $100 wager.
The implied probability attached to the betting lines gives Hawkeyes a 56.52% chance to win, with Wildcats at 47.62%.
The odds and predictions in the article are based on the time of writing and publication. They may differ as to when the actual event takes place.
Iowa vs Kentucky Trends
Iowa vs Kentucky Edge
Iowa vs Kentucky Results
Iowa vs Kentucky Game Summary
