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The Iowa Hawkeyes may have needed overtime to knock off Iowa State to retain the CyHawk Trophy, but are happy to be 2-0. Iowa is looking to make that 3-0 heading into the start of Big Ten play, and a critical opener against Penn State. The Hawkeyes will be facing their easiest non-conference test yet in the North Texas Mean Green. Although North Texas made a bowl game last season, this team has mostly been in the doldrums after ruling the Sun Belt back in the day. Keeping it close against the Hawkeyes would be a sign of better days though.
Watch this regular season Week 3 matchup live on Saturday, September 16, 2017, at 3:30 p.m. ET at Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City, Iowa. This game will be broadcast on ESPN2.
College Football Opening Odds at BookMaker.eu
North Texas +21.5
Iowa -21.5
Over/Under 52.5
Odds Analysis
The Hawkeyes almost found a way to cover against the Cyclones last week. Iowa was behind throughout the fourth quarter, but tied it late and would have covered if it had kicked the extra point after the game-winning touchdown in overtime. That would have been nice for Hawkeyes fans after cruising to a win over Wyoming last week, but would have been a kick in the pants to anyone who bet the Cyclones.
North Texas was a popular pick to cover against SMU last week, but came up short against their in-state rival. The Mean Green have put up points in their first two games, but one was against FCS Lamar and one was against an SMU team that really doesn’t have much in the way of defense. Both of their games so far have flown over the total.
Coaching Angle
Kirk Ferentz is the longest-tenured coach in college football. The sudden retirement of Bob Stoops made Ferentz the elder statesman of the FBS and he is well-suited for the role. Although he had been lackluster at Iowa for most of the early part of this decade, he has really turned it on in the past two seasons and has rekindled the magic that made this Hawkeyes team great.
Iowa is never going to recruit with the best schools in the Big Ten. There just aren’t that many good high school football players in Iowa and the school doesn’t have the draw that Michigan, Ohio State, or Wisconsin do. However, Ferentz is great at getting the most out of the players he does have and is doing that again.
Matchup to Watch
The Mean Green have traditionally been a running school, but quarterback Mason Fine has been a competent passer for North Texas this season. He is averaging 9.5 yards per pass attempt this season and is completing 69.1 percent of his passes. Sure, he is doing this against bad defenses, but those performances are confidence builders heading into this game. For North Texas to have any chance of pulling off the impossible, they will need Fine to have a good day.
Iowa has been a little susceptible to the pass. Even though the Hawkeyes did a good job of shutting down Wyoming’s Josh Allen, they gave up a ton of yards to Jacob Park last week. Park is more talented than Fine is, but the former’s success should help the latter determine where to look in tape review.
Free ATS Pick
The Hawkeyes definitely have one eye looking ahead to next week’s game against Penn State. The tilt against the Nittany Lions should get plenty of attention and might be Iowa’s toughest game all season long. Penn State is playing lowly Georgia State this week and the program is certainly starting to gameplan for Iowa already.
Our money says that Iowa is doing the same thing and the school won’t be 100 percent focused on North Texas. The Hawkeyes will win, but it will be closer than the experts think.
College Football Odds: Hawkeyes 38, Mean Green 20
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