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The Hawkeyes are back inside Kinnick Stadium for week three of the college football season. This week sees Iowa close out their non-conference slate at home against the Western Michigan Broncos.
Iowa is fresh off a 20-13 win at Iowa State to move to 2-0 on the season, and back inside the AP and Coaches Poll top-25. While things weren’t markedly better from a statistical perspective, the Hawkeyes did find some success running the ball in Ames, led by an explosive performance from RS freshman Jaziun Patterson, who finished the day with 86 yards and a TD on just 10 carries.
Now the Hawkeyes look to take some of that running game improvement, mix it with the success they found passing the ball early in week one and turn the offense up about six notches as they play host to WMU. The Broncos come into the day fresh off a 48-7 shellacking at the hands of the Syracuse Orange. Cuse got up big early, heading into halftime with 45 points already on the board.
On the season, the Broncos are giving up 388 yards of total offense and 33 points per game. That includes more than 100 yards allowed per game on the ground and more than 285 yards allowed through the air. While those numbers are skewed some by the success of Syracuse in week two, it’s worth noting FCS St. Francis managed 17 points on the road against WMU in week one.
The lackluster defensive performance from Western Michigan through two weeks is a driving force behind the big spread in today’s game. DraftKings Sportsbook has Iowa as a whopping 28.5-point favorite today with an over/under quite low at just 42 total points. That implies a runaway win for the Hawkeyes, who are expected to do most of the scoring while holding the Broncos in line with their week two output.
One thing to watch for today is the chance of precipitation, which could factor into any offensive output, particularly in the passing game. While the initial weather forecast looked pretty, things have gotten gloomier as game time has gotten closer.
As we get ready for kickoff, here’s everything you need to know about today’s matchup.
Date: Saturday, September 16th
Time: 2:30 pm CT
Matchup: Western Michigan Broncos (1-1, 0-0) at Iowa Hawkeyes (2-0, 0-0)
Location: Kinnick Stadium - Iowa City, IA
TV: BTN
Preliminary Weather Forecast: cloudy with temps in the low-70s, 40% chance of rain
DraftKings Sportsbook Line: Iowa -28.5, O/U 42
Odds/lines subject to change. T&Cs apply. See draftkings.com/sportsbook for details.
Keep an eye out for the availability report, which is set to be published at 12:30 pm CT. Recall that’s a new item in the Big Ten this season with availability reported two hours before game time. Jermari Harris was officially listed on this week’s depth chart and is expected to be a go today. Will we see some other names fall off the report?
Go Hawks!
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