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Minnesota vs. Iowa fearless prediction and game preview.
Minnesota vs. Iowa Broadcast
Date: Saturday, November 16
Game Time: 4:00 ET
Live Stream: fuboTV (click to watch for free)
Venue: Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City, IA
Network: FOX
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Minnesota (9-0) vs. Iowa (6-3) Game Preview
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Why Minnesota Will Win
Can we start giving Minnesota credit for having a terrific passing game led by a quarterback having a fantastic season?
Everyone knows who Joe Burrow is now. Everyone figured out how to spell Tagovailoa, is familiar with Jalen Hurts, marvels at Justin Fields, and has Justin Herbert on the NFL radar.
Does anyone have a clue who Tanner Morgan is?
He’s only the fourth-most efficient passer in college football – right after Hurts, Tagovailoa and Burrow – is third in yards per attempt, and is coming off a special day against a supposedly impenetrable Penn State defense.
Minnesota might be able to run well with Rodney Smith and its deep group of backs, but Morgan was the star last Saturday, completing 18-of-20 passes for 339 yards and three touchdowns. It helps to have NFL-caliber receivers in Rashod Bateman and Tyler Johnson to throw to.
Iowa’s secondary has been solid, but it got can be hit for big yards by a hot quarterback, and it doesn’t generate enough of a pass rush to bother Morgan on a consistent basis.
Iowa’s Nate Stanley hit a few big passes last week against Wisconsin, but it doesn’t have a deep ball aspect to its game. Minnesota can unleash that at any time.
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Why Iowa Will Win
Iowa does a lot of things Penn State does, only – potentially – without the turnovers.
To be fair, Penn State doesn’t have a turnover problem and Minnesota was good enough to change that for a game, but the Hawkeyes have only lost the turnover battle twice – the losses to Michigan and Penn State – and gave it away a mere three times in the other seven games.
The Hawkeyes have to hold up against the run, and they almost certainly won’t get gouged. And even if they do, they’re going to be able to keep this close.
Last week, Jonathan Taylor was able to go off on the Iowa run defense, but 1) that’s Jonathan Taylor, 2) it was an aberration, and 3) the Hawkeyes still almost pulled out the win. They’re 0-3 when allowing 120 rushing yards or more, and 6-0 when allowing fewer.
To hold up, Iowa has to control the time of possession battle – it’s great at that – and it needs Stanley to keep hitting his third down plays. Sean Clifford kept things moving throughout the game for Penn State, and Stanley can hit those same sorts of throws to the tight ends over the middle to keep gouging the Gopher secondary. However …
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What’s Going To Happen
Minnesota is amazing at winning close games, and Iowa is just okay at it.
Iowa is roughly three plays away from unbeaten – or close to three plays – but that’s sort of the point. Minnesota is 5-0 in games decided by a touchdown or less, and Iowa is 2-3 in those games.
The world is watching Minnesota now, but this game doesn’t matter that much. The Gophers can lose, beat Northwestern and Wisconsin, and get to the Big Ten Championship at 11-1 with a shot at Ohio State or Penn State for an almost certain berth in the College Football Playoff.
First, the Gophers will take one step closer to getting to Indianapolis by hanging on late for yet another thrilling, close win.
Second, they leave Kinnick Stadium with the Floyd of Rosedale Trophy.
Minnesota vs. Iowa Prediction, Line
Minnesota 23, Iowa 20
Bet on UM vs. Iowa with BetMGM, or for latest line
Iowa -2.5, o/u: 44.5
Live Stream: fuboTV (click to watch for free)
ATS Confidence out of 5: 2
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Must See Rating: 4
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