The Rose Bowl features the Iowa Hawkeyes from the Big 10 conference and the Stanford Cardinal from the PAC-12. The Hawkeyes are making their first trip to the Rose Bowl in nearly 25 years.
If you're looking for a Big 10/Pac-12 showdown, Pasadena, California is where you want to be on New Year's day. We have a Pac-12 champion with an exciting offense facing off against a Big Ten team with a smash-mouth defense. This could be the best game of the bowl season.
Stanford's Christian McCaffrey has been a nightmare for defenses all season long, and he only seems to be getting better as the game progresses. If Stanford is going to be successful, the Cardinal must have McCaffrey play a major role. He faces an Iowa defense that ranks 10th against the run, so, it won't be easy, but clearly it is something the Cardinal need to do, be successful running the ball.
Both teams are similar in many areas. In an era of high-flying spread and read-option offenses, these programs fall back on pro-style attacks. They boast two of the best offensive lines in the country and prefer power football. Both teams will try to pound it down each others throats until one makes a mistake. It could be one of the fastest games we will watch this bowl season. The clock is going to run no matter who has the rock.
ODDS/INFO
Rose Bowl
January 1, 2016
Pasadena, California
5:00 p.m., ET - ABC
Iowa Hawkeyes +6
Stanford Cardinal -6
Game Total 54
KEY STATS
Iowa is 5-2 ATS in its last seven bowl games. The Hawkeyes also haven't won a bowl game since the '10 season and a Rose Bowl since the '58 campaign.
Stanford is 5-1 Against the Spread in its last six bowl games. Since 2010, Stanford is 46-6 in games played in California.
The Rose Bowl participants have played one common opponent this season. Stanford lost, 16-6, in the season opener at Northwestern. Iowa stomped the the Wildcats, 40-10, Oct. 17 in Evanston. Please note that Stanford's loss to Northwestern was their first game of the year and also a 9:00 a.m. Pacific time kickoff which clearly hurt the Cardinal.
BETTING ANGLE
Stanford opened as a 6.5-point favorite on Dec. 6 and rose to 7 by Dec. 12, before dropping down to 6 as of Monday. The game total is hovering around 54, not moving much in either direction.
ANALYSIS AND PREDICTION
Iowa's best formula for victory will be winning the time of possession game. If it keeps the Cardinal high-power offense on the sideline and allows the Hawkeye defense to stay fresh, they have a great chance to win.
Stanford will do much of the same by pounding the ball on the ground and hopefully that sets up their passing game. With both teams running the ball and playing good defense, the total of 54 points is too high. Although the public generally love betting on the over, this game will stay in the 40's, making for an easy play on the UNDER! The college football odds for this game were first available at BookMaker Sportsbook.
The Stanford Cardinal were pegged as 7-point chalk while the total opened at 54. Minute-by-minute spreads, totals and props are available for this game using the live betting platform at BookMaker.
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