No. 15 Iowa hits the road to face Minnesota on Saturday, and prediction markets like the Hawkeyes to cover a spread that has grown from 4.5 to 7 points, according to Yahoo Sports' Week 8 college football picks. The Hawkeyes enter Minneapolis at 5-1 overall and 2-1 in Big Ten play, sitting third in the conference race and facing a Golden Gophers team that just got blown out at Purdue.
The Hawkeyes are riding their best stretch of the season. Jeremy Hecklinski threw for 202 yards and three touchdowns in his first career start, a 41-24 win at Washington on Oct. 17, and now Iowa lists Hecklinski and Hank Brown as co-starters for the trip to Minneapolis. Brown started the first five games before a shoulder injury against Ohio State.
Why prediction markets like Iowa to cover against Minnesota
Yahoo Sports projects a 28-14 Iowa win, siding with the Hawkeyes and the over on a 40.5-point total. The case starts on the ground, where running back Kamari Moulton leads the Big Ten with 103.8 rushing yards per game. He ran for 208 yards at Washington in a game where the Iowa defense held the Huskies to minus-3 rushing yards.
Minnesota's offense offers little resistance. The Gophers average just 96.4 rushing yards per game against FBS opponents and lost 41-13 at Purdue before last week's bye. Minnesota coach P.J. Fleck is 1-8 against Iowa's Kirk Ferentz, and the Hawkeyes have won 10 of the last 11 meetings in the series and five straight in Minneapolis.
Minnesota (4-2, 2-1) does not lack for confidence in its own locker room.
“They're both really good, both talented, both have won games,” Fleck said of Iowa's two quarterbacks.
The quarterback situation is the one open question for Iowa fans. Hecklinski completed 14 of 19 passes against Washington and looked sharp in his first start, while Brown guided the Hawkeyes through the season's first five games. Whoever takes the first snap Saturday, the Hawkeyes' formula remains the same: run the ball, stop the run, and win the field-position battle.
Where Iowa stands in the Big Ten picture
The Hawkeyes' lone loss came against Ohio State, and the win at Washington showed this team can dominate on the road. Iowa's defense held the Huskies to negative rushing yards, the kind of performance that has defined Ferentz teams for two decades in Iowa City.
For readers tracking the broader conference race,