Iowa State vs. UCONN Football Pick and Betting Line
Betting Line: UCONN -5 O/U 44.5 at 5 Dimes
9/16/11
UCONN hosts Iowa State in a Friday Night ESPN2 affair in which leading offshore sportsbook 5 Dimes has the Huskies as a 4.5 point home favorite. UCONN is 1-1 with a win over Fordham and a loss last week to Vanderbilt while Iowa State comes in 2-0 with a win over Northern Iowa and a huge win over Iowa last week.
We expected problems at UCONN this year. Randy Edsall, now at Maryland, was the glue that held this team together. He ACComplished quite a bit with somewhat limited talent. We have plenty of respect for John Pasqualoni but he steps into a difficult situation. UCONN has QB issues. Specifically, lack of one. They played 3 QB’s against Vandy and turnovers were a problem. QB Johnny McEntee was picked off 3 times and lost a fumble as a result of UCONN not being able to protect him.
Now the Huskies have to deal with an Iowa State offense that stung Iowa for 44 points, although 24 of those points came as a result of Triple OT. But that may not be a problem as the UCONN defense looks fine, albeit in two not so tough tests, and if there’s a silver lining here it’s that the Iowa State defense doesn’t look all that tough.
If you’re a UCONN fan or backer, you’re hoping that Iowa State comes in flat as a result of just coming off such an emotional win over in state rival Iowa. That combined with UCONN coming up short to SEC puNChing bag Vandy and you have a spot which potentially sets up nicely for UCONN. Throw in the Friday Night national TV audieNCe which always works up the fans, and that may be enough to put UCONN on top.
If we got UCONN as a dog here, or possible under a field goal, we may have a spot to step in. But from where we sit, based on what we have seen from both teams thus far, the talent level appears even. We’re not comfortable laying the number with UCONN in a Game that figures to be back and forth and likely decided late. As a result, we’ll make a small recommendation on Iowa State +5