The Big Ten Championship Game between Iowa and Michigan football is expected to be exciting.
In the Big Ten Championship Game between Michigan football and Iowa Hawkeyes, here are some audacious predictions.
Conference championship weekend is among us, and no matchup appears more lopsided on paper than the Michigan Wolverines vs.
Iowa Hawkeyes Big Ten Championship game. When these two teams faced off in the Big Ten Championship game back in 2021, Iowa supporters won’t be too fond of the outcome.
They were defeated by Michigan 42–3 in the end.In their previous season encounter, Iowa was the more competitive team, but they ultimately lost 27–13.
Over the past three weeks, JJ McCarthy hasn’t had a lot on his plate. McCarthy has only attempted 51 passes over that time.
He hasn’t needed to, in part, because Michigan’s rushing offense was so effective in their victories over Penn State and Ohio State that Michigan was able to ride it all the way to victory. In the whole month of November, McCarthy managed just one touchdown.
However, that might alter this week. Cooper DeJean, Iowa’s standout cornerback, was lost for the remainder of the season a few weeks ago.
Despite their strong defensive play, Iowa has not encountered many dangerous aerial assaults this season. They did play versus Penn State, and they had one successful passing attack.
The starting quarterback for Penn State, Drew Allar, went off against the Hawkeyes, throwing touchdown after touchdown.
Even though Allar only gained 166 yards on 25-37 passing toward the end of that game, he still managed four touchdown passes.
JJ McCarthy might go on an identical kind of excursion. McCarthy is averaging a strong 9.66 yards per attempt this season and is finishing 74.3% of his throws.
His season QBR of 90.8 is third only behind Heisman Trophy contenders Jayden Daniels and Bo Nix. Michigan’s strong ground game has overshadowed McCarthy’s excellent season.
This week against Iowa, his play might be more evident.With an approximate 34-point over/under, Michigan is favored by 23 points.
Essentially, Vegas is predicting that Iowa will not score more than one touchdown and will lose by a margin greater than touchdowns. They’re probably correct, too.
Chris Fallica brought up the fact that prior to their matchup with Penn State earlier in the season, Iowa has historically battled mightily as double-digit underdogs. Iowa lost that match 31-0 after that.
This season, scoring has also not been a simple task for the Hawkeyes. This season, they have scored more than 20 points in a game three times, with two of those instances occurring against Utah State and Western Michigan.
In addition, Iowa has the tenth-fewest points per game and the fewest offensive yards per game nationally on average.
The Michigan State Spartans, Nebraska Cornhuskers, and Arizona State Sun Devils—whom the Hawkeyes just defeated 13–10—are the only three Power Five teams with lower final scores than the Hawkeyes.
Iowa’s situation is further exacerbated by the fact that they will be playing against the second-worst defense in terms of yards allowed (246.8) and the lowest scoring defense (10.3).
This game may end with no points for Iowa. The chances are that the under and the Michigan spread will cover if that doesn’t occur.
