Iowa Hawkeyes vs Illinois Fighting Illini prediction and game preview.
Iowa vs Illinois Broadcast
Date: Saturday, December 5
Game Time: 3:30 ET
Venue: Memorial Stadium, Champaign, IL
Network: FS1
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Iowa (4-2) vs Illinois (2-3) Game Preview
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Why Iowa Will Win
Iowa is doing it by being Iowa.
The offensive line is doing a great job in pass protection, the defense has cranked it up, and the results are coming with four straight wins.
The defensive front is great at getting into the backfield on a regular basis, the takeaways are coming, and it’s all getting help from a running game that’s good enough.
It got stopped too often last week against Nebraska, but it has been good enough to control games and keep things at the pace the program is used to. Illinois doesn’t have the offense and it’s struggling too much on third downs to win the time of possession battle or get the ground game going.
Why Illinois Will Win
Iowa doesn’t have enough of a passing game.
It rebounded after two lousy games against Michigan State and Minnesota – Spencer Petras was more accurate and the offense moved a bit better against Penn State, and then with 193 yards against Nebraska – but it’s still not anything to worry too much about.
Illinois has gone on the road in its last two games and run and run some more. Sophomore Chase Brown has been a find, tearing off 131 yards against Rutgers and 110 yards and two scores against Nebraska, and Brandon Peters is back.
The veteran quarterback hit 72% of his passes for 205 yards and a score against the Huskers, and if he can balance things out just a bit, and the team can keep winning the turnover margin, this could be interesting.
What’s Going To Happen
Illinois is playing well enough to pull this off, but it needs to come up with a few key takeaways and it has to hold up on the lines – neither will happen.
The Iowa run defense is too strong, the O line will take over as the game goes on, and neither passing attack will be anything special.
It’ll be another grinding win for a hot Hawkeye team.
Iowa vs Illinois Prediction, Line
Iowa 30, Illinois 17
Bet on Iowa vs Illinois with BetMGM
Iowa -13.5, o/u: 51
ATS Confidence out of 5: 2.5
Must See Rating: 3
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