Hawkeyes Underdogs in ReliaQuest Matchup vs Vanderbilt
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One of the great things about being in the Big Ten conference is the many bowl tie-ins which tend to be in great locations (save for the Pinstripe Bowl – brrrr!). Those bowl tie-ins come with bowl payouts and for a school like Iowa, those dollars are a nice boost.
But the flip side of all the work the conference has done to get so many bowl tie-ins is those high quality bowls come with high quality opponents. That is especially true when the Big Ten is sending a trio of teams to the College Football Playoffs.
As a reminder, here’s a look at the bowl pecking order for the Big Ten conference:
- No. 1 New Year’s Six. The champion goes to either the Cotton Bowl, the Fiesta Bowl or the Peach Bowl unless they are selected for the College Football Playoff.
- No. 2 The Citrus Bowl vs SEC
- No. 3 The ReliaQuest Bowl vs SEC
- No. 4 The Las Vegas Bowl vs Pac-12 (odd-numbered years)
- No. 5 The Music City Bowl vs SEC
- No. 6 The Bad Boy Mowers Pinstripe Bowl vs ACC
- No. 7 The Rate Bowl vs Big 12 No. 6
- No. 8 The Quick Lane Bowl vs MAC
For Iowa, finishing sixth in the conference standings with three Big Ten teams in the playoff made things pretty clearcut: they were almost certainly headed to the ReliaQuest Bowl unless something whacky happened. The other side of that is the SEC tie-in.
The SEC managed to get five teams into the College Football playoff, all of which finished ranked inside the top-10, while Texas and Vanderbilt sat just outside the top-10 at #13 and #14 respectively. What does that mean in terms of bowl destinations? Well, not a lot. Unlike the Big Ten, the SEC doesn’t mandate a pecking order beyond the #1 spot.
1. Cheez-It Citrus Bowl vs. Big Ten
This is wear Texas, despite having a worse overall record, lands given the #13 ranking and tiebreakers over Vanderbilt. They face off with the Big Ten’s top available – Michigan.
From there, there is no order for the SEC. Just location, matchups and fit. Here’s a look at all their tie-ins for this year.
- ReliaQuest Bowl vs. Big Ten or ACC
- TaxSlayer Gator Bowl vs. ACC
- Liberty Mutual Music City Bowl vs. Big Ten
- Duke’s Mayo Bowl vs. ACC
- Kinder’s Texas Bowl vs. Big 12
- AutoZone Liberty Bowl vs. Big 12
As you can see, this is where things get rough for the Hawkeyes. The #2 available SEC team is now matched up with the #3 available Big Ten team. It’s a systematic matchup nightmare for the Big Ten that has been happening for a generation. A lower ranked Big Ten team will travel to the south to face off with a higher ranked SEC team in a game much closer in proximity to their home.
So it should come as no surprise that the Hawkeyes opened as underdogs in this one. FanDuel Sportsbook has Vanderbilt favored by 4.5 in a game with an over/under set at 50.5 total points. That gives us an implied final score of Vanderbilt 27.5, Iowa 23.
The Commodores are a stellar opponent for the Hawkeyes, but the Vegas line is a bit compelling here. Iowa has given up more than 27 points just once this year in a road trip to Rutgers. Notably, Iowa won that game, scoring 38 points of their own.
In Iowa’s four matchups against ranked opponents this season, they’re holding teams to an average of 20 points per game. It’s again worth noting that none scored more than 27 and only USC topped 21 points.
Playing Devil’s advocate here, it’s also worth calling out that Iowa went winless in those four matchups. They also had some help from the weather in a pair of them and enjoyed the friendly confines of Kinnick Stadium for the matchups against IU and Oregon.
Date: Wednesday, December 31st
Time: 11:03 am CT
Matchup: Iowa Hawkeyes (8-4, 6-3) vs Vanderbilt Commodores (10-2, 6-2)
Location: Raymond James Stadium – Tampa, FL
TV: ESPN
Preliminary Weather Forecast: cloudy with temps in the mid-60s, 25% chance of rain
FanDuel Sportsbook Opening Line: Vanderbilt -4.5, O/U 50.5
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