Iowa Hawkeyes vs Maryland Terrapins Point Spread Picks

Maryland has gone UNDER three of its last five games following Saturday's 34-7 win over Rutgers that went UNDER by 10 points. The Scarlet Knights were held scoreless until the fourth quarter and were held to just 179 yards of offense of which 171 came on the ground. Rutgers quarterback Art Sitkowski possibly had one of the worst performances in history as he completed only two passes in 16 attempts for eight yards with four interceptions. Although the Maryland defense can't take full credit for such a horrible outing, it still means the stop-unit did an impressive job defending the pass. Normally, Kasim Hill's statistics would look bad, but in comparison to his counterpart the Terrapins' QB was not so bad completing 8-of-17 for 76 yards and three touchdowns with no interceptions. The Terps rushed for 290 yards on 40 carries for a 7.3 average. Iowa has one of the top defenses in the country allowing only 282.0 yards per game, which is good for a #5 ranking. The Hawkeyes are giving up 16.5 points per game compared to 23.3 for Maryland.  The Hawkeyes are #4 in the nation in rushing defense at only 81.5 yards per game. Play the UNDER.

The Iowa Hawkeyes are a surprising 7-0, and appear to have a clear path to the Big-10 Championship game as an unbeaten team. Iowa has wins vs. Wisconsin and Pittsburgh, but caught a huge schedule break as they will not face Michigan, Michigan State, or Ohio State in the regular season. The Hawkeyes offense is a bit under the radar as they have totaled better than 400 yards in five of their seven games. The Hawkeyes run defense has allowed fewer than 85 yards in six of their seven games, and they have forced two or more turnovers in their last five. Maryland has been a turnover machine with 24 in their first seven games, and have averaged four in their last four games, and four of their five losses have come by 21 points or more. The problem Maryland faces here is that they are a good running team facing a strong run defense, and the Terrapins pass attack is very weak, and if they get behind the turnovers have become inevitable. Iowa fits some strong situations based on their unbeaten record, so play on Iowa.

The Iowa Hawkeyes have a 5-1 record on the season, but I don't think we have seen the best of what this team has to offer yet. There has always been a constant with this team and that is defense. The Hawkeyes always defend, and this year has been no exception as they enter play with a defense that ranks #26 in fewest yards allowed per game. Coach Randy Edsall has his team off to a good start at 4-2, but they have been exposed by the good teams they have faced like West Virginia and Ohio State who humiliated them in their last game. The Terps are 0-2 ATS in the role of a favorite vs. FBS opponents after closing last year 1-4 ATS as a favorite, making them 1-6 ATS in their last seven, and they certainly have been a bit overrated. Iowa has been one of the strongest road teams in the country recently as they are a perfect 8-0 ATS in their last eight on the road, and that includes 6-0 ATS in their last six on the road vs. a team with a winning home record. This one will be tight, so grab the points and play on Iowa.