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Iowa State Looks to Upset Iowa in Rivalry Game
Current Betting Line has Iowa Favored by 6.5
9/12/09
The Iowa Hawkeyes will yet to actually play outside their state in the first couple of weeks of play, but they are still ranked in the Top 25 at number 22 and look to improve to 2-0 against the rival Iowa St. Cyclones. The current betting line at most offshore sportsbooks favors Iowa by 6.5 with a total of 46.5.
Jack Trice Stadium is not an easy place to play for any opposing team of the Iowa State Cyclones. The Cyclones have by no means been a threatening team to anyone in the past couple seasons, especially last year going 2-10 for the season, but this year things look a bit more promising with a potent offense and a good running Game.
Last season was obviously a forgettable one, especially the Game they played against the Hawkeyes when they scored an unusual five points in the loss, but despite the Hawkeyes being ranked 22nd in the country the Cyclones have a good chance of actually pulling off the unlikely upset of the Hawkeyes who have lived and died with the ground Game the past couple of seasons.
Shonn Greene was the premier running back for the Hawkeyes last season as he just seemed to run all over Iowas opponents last season, but this year problems have started to emerge after Greenes departure to the NFL to play for the New York Jets.
The season looked promising with the ground Game as there was expectation for running Paki OMeara to pick up where Greene left off, but after a very disappointing performance last week against Northern Iowa where OMeara rushed for only 16 yards on nine carries he was beNChed in favor of redshirt freshman Adam Robinson.
Even though OMeara not coming through was a big blow for the Hawkeyes, Robinson came in and was very impressive with 63 yards on 15 carries and a rushing touchdown. Robinson will be the first redshirt freshman to start against the Cyclones since LAdell Betts from the Washington Redskins did it back in 1998.
Despite the Cyclones not being ranked or really getting much attention they have a very good offense lead by quarterback Austen Arnaud who threw for 227 yards and two touchdowns in their week one win against North Dakota State last weekend. Arnaud connected with his favorite wide receiver Marquis Hamilton for both of his touchdown passes in the 34-17 victory over the North Dakota State Bison.
Along with a solid air attack the Cyclones have a very good running Game as well with running back Pat Paschall who had a career performance last week against the Bison rushing for a career high 147 yards and a touchdown.
The current line as of right now is -6.5 in favor of the Iowa Hawkeyes. The visitor has lost 5 straight in this series and Iowa has scored 17 points or less in 8 of the last 13 in this series. Iowa State always seems to rise to the occasion against Iowa. With that in mind, we’ll take +6.5 with Iowa State and root for an outright upset to boot.
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