Big Ten Championship: Michigan vs Iowa prediction, game preview, how to watch: Saturday, December 4
Big Ten Championship: Michigan vs Iowa How To Watch
Date: Saturday, December 4
Game Time: 8:00 ET
Venue: Lucas Oil Stadium, Indianapolis, IN
How To Watch: FOX
Record: Michigan (11-1), Iowa (10-2)
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Big Ten Championship: Michigan vs Iowa Game Preview
Why Iowa Will Win
Oh poor Iowa …
Big underdog, no offense, no chance, sort of backed into this, it’s all about Michigan and finally being able win something massive under Jim Harbaugh.
This team is here for a reason.
No, the offense isn’t anything special – it was the worst in the Big Ten for most of the year until Indiana decided to take over the bottom spot – and there are a whole slew of matchup issues, but you don’t get to 10-2 in the Big Ten without doing something right.
The takeaways have returned. The Hawkeyes got to No. 2 in the nation after pounding on every possible turnover chance, but the production slowed against the better teams – Purdue, Wisconsin, Minnesota – before coming back with two takeaways against Illinois and Nebraska to close things out.
This isn’t going to be the type of team that hangs 50 on the board with a big offensive show, but it’s going to be measured, stay in control, and it’s not going to screw up.
There aren’t a lot of penalties, the team leads the Big Ten in turnover margin, and it needs to come up with multiple takeaways to pull this off. When there’s pressure and stress, the turnovers sometimes follow – and all the pressure and stress is on Michigan.
But …
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Why Michigan Will Win
Michigan doesn’t turn the ball over.
It gave away two fumbles against Northwestern and won easily, it turned it over twice against Michigan State and it mattered, and that was it.
There’s no reason to take any big chances.
Iowa’s offense doesn’t have enough pop to crank up the production, and unlike most normal Kirk Ferentz teams, it’s going to get owned on the lines.
The Michigan defensive front should dominate a mediocre Hawkeye offensive line that allows way too many plays in the backfield and doesn’t do anything for the run, and the Wolverine offensive front five leads the nation in fewest tackles for loss allowed and doesn’t give up sacks.
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What’s Going To Happen
It’s Michigan under Jim Harbaugh. We’re about to see if it’s allowed to have nice things.
Within 30 seconds after the breakout win over Ohio State finally ended, a large portion of TTUN (That Team Up North) Nation started freaking out that the team was finally going to get over the Buckeye hump only to blow it in the Big Ten Championship.
Nah.
Oh, it won’t be easy – Iowa really is good enough defensively to grind this down; no one has scored more than 27 on the Hawkeyes this year – and all bets are off if Michigan starts turning the ball over, but the lines will take control as the game goes on, the defense will rise up with a huge second half, and even though no one in Maize and Blue will be able to breathe easily until midway through the fourth quarter, yeah …
Michigan is going to be the 2 seed and – most likely – off to Arlington, Texas.
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Big Ten Championship: Michigan vs Iowa Prediction, Lines
Michigan 26, Iowa 17
Line: Michigan -11, o/u: 43.5
ATS Confidence out of 5: 2
Must See Rating: 5
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