DAWGS PREVIEW RUTGERS @ IOWA

'Kinnick Stadium - Iowa Hawkeye Football' Photo Credit Brad Covington via Flickr

The Rutgers Scarlet Knights (6-3 3-3 Big Ten) will travel to Iowa City, IA to face the Iowa Hawkeyes (7-2 4-2 Big Ten).

BROADCAST INFORMATION:

Time/Channel:3:30 PM Eastern Time Kickoff on the Big Ten Network

On the Call: Cory Provus and Jake Butt will be on the with Brooke Fletcher will be on the sideline.

Rutgers radio broadcast: FM 101.9 and AM 660.

Iowa radio broadcast: FM 100.7 and AM 800.

WHAT’S AT STAKE?

Rutgers currently is in 4th place in the Big Ten East, while Iowa is in 1st place in the Big Ten West. A win for the Scarlet Knights keeps them firmly in 4th place in the East. Iowa, in the meantime, needs to win to stay a full game ahead of Minnesota, Wisconsin, and Nebraska in the West. The Hawkeyes hold a tiebreaker over Minnesota and Wisconsin. A win for Iowa all but seals the Hawkeyes trip to Indianapolis for the Big Ten Championship Game.

KEY PLAYERS

Rutgers

QB Gavin Wimsatt – 49.0% passes completed, 1,263 yards, 8 TDs, and 5 INT & is the 2nd leading rusher with 411 rush yards and tied for the lead with 7 TD.

LB Mohamed Toure – 58 tackles, 5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, 2 passes broken up, 1 INT, 4 quarterback hurries and 1 forced fumble. He’s done a little bit of everything for Rutgers.

Iowa

LB Jay Higgins – 3rd in the country with 113 tackles, 2nd with 12.6 tackles per game, 1 sack, 2 passes broken up, 1 INT, 1 forced fumble and 1 fumble recovery.

P Tory Taylor – Yes, you saw that correctly, Iowa’s punter is a key player. With the absolute ineptitude of the Iowa offense, their biggest weapon is Taylor. The Australian-born punter is 8th in the country with an average of 47.55 yards per punt, has 24 punts inside the 20-yard line, and is 1st in the country in total punting yards with 2,853. Taylor is 336 yards ahead of the 2nd most yards by a punter!

KEY MATCHUPS

The Rutgers run game against the Iowa run defense. The Scarlet Knights are 33rd in the country in rushing yards per game and the Hawkeyes defense is 33rd in rushing defense. Something has to give!

Iowa’s red zone offense against Rutgers’ red zone defense. Yes, thanks to the struggles of the Iowa offense I had to really dig deep to find a key matchup on the Iowa offensive side of the ball. Iowa’s offense is 7th in the nation with a red zone efficiency rating of .952. The Rutgers red zone defense, however, is 14th in the nation with a rating of .731. So if the Iowa offense makes it to the red zone it’s a good bet they will come away with points!

PREDICTION:

Wow, history has been made with this game. In 1995 the lowest over/under betting line was set for the Arizona-Oregon State game at 33 points, until now. When the line for this game came out, the over under for Rutgers-Iowa was set at 28.5, 4.5 points less! The strength of both defenses is as evident as the struggles of both offenses. This will be an old school, slobber-knocking game and an upset at Kinnick is upon us! Rutgers 13 Iowa 6. TAKE THE UNDER!