SOME ODDS ON IOWA AND A 13-0 SEASON

As we've said already today, Iowa's mission is clear: just keep winning.  Would a 13-0 Iowa team really be denied a spot in the College Football Playoff?  Despite the hand-wringing about their schedule and their lack of a "sexy" offense, probably not.  But what are the odds of them actually putting together that 13-0 record?  Numbers are nice.  Numbers are fun.  What do the numbers say?  According to the calculations run by the folks over at The Prediction Machine:

13.2% odds?  Those don't seem too bad, frankly!  Obviously the biggest impediment to a 13-0 season appears on paper to be getting that 13th win, which would come in the Big Ten Championship Game, against either Ohio State or Michigan State (barring some truly bizarre results among the Big Ten East teams over the next four weeks).  It's interesting that Iowa has such better odds than Michigan State, considering both teams could face the same biggest roadblock: beating Ohio State.  Perhaps the numbers favor Iowa because they're able to push that game against Ohio State further into the future than Michigan State is -- the Spartans have to play OSU in three weeks, whereas Iowa wouldn't play them for another month.  Iowa can get to 12-0 without playing Ohio State, whereas Michigan State can't do better than 10-0 before playing the Buckeyes.  The Spartans also have to play OSU in Columbus, whereas Iowa would get them on a neutral field in Indianapolis. (And the Spartans also have to contend with a season finale against a 7-2 Penn State team, while Iowa is currently slated to face no teams with winning records in November.)

Meanwhile, as far as Vegas is concerned, despite improving to 8-0 with their win over Maryland last week, Iowa's national championship odds have actually decreased, going from 25/1 to 33/1 in the latest odds released by Bovada:

Perhaps Vegas was turned off by Iowa's sluggish offense in the second half of their win over the Terps or the fact that C.J. Beathard appears to be moving about as well as his legendary former NFL general manager, Bobby.  Or maybe they're just guzzlin' the same HATERADE that everyone else is.  On the bright side, if you place your bet now, you can be a little bit richer when Iowa shocks the world and brings him the Giant Ornamental Champagne Flute Trophy!

And Bovada also released some new odds on the Heisman trophy, but shamefully omitted Desmond King from their rundown of contenders.  You don't want to make the King angry.  You wouldn't like the King when he's angry.

Maybe King will have to make do with winning the Thorpe Award for the nation's best defensive back; he was named to the semifinalist list of that award last week.