Hawkeye fans don’t agree with the CFP lineup, but they sure do like the Hawks against Vanderbilt.
The end is near!
No, really, the end of college football is incredibly near. Both the bowl season and the College Football Playoffs have kicked off and things, thus far, have gone relatively predictably. That is, except for the SEC having some issues.
Last week, we asked the fanbase how they felt about the official CFP bracket after there was much consternation over its release. As you’ll recall, the Notre Dame Fighting Irish were left on the outside looking in, which spurred them to take their ball and go home rather than participate in any bowl games.
In their place we found a Miami team that had already defeated the Irish, a three-loss Alabama and both Tulane and James Madison.
The Iowa faithful were pretty split on whether the committee got it right, given the constraints currently put forth on conference auto-bids with 43% saying they did, while 57% disagreed.
We saw a bit of that play out in the opening weekend. As you might expect, those auto-bids for Tulane and James Madison ended with absolute demolition. For the second time this season, Ole Miss beat Tulane by more than 30, winning 41-10 (vs 45-10 back in week 4 – what are we even doing with Tulane getting in given that resume and how do they get matched up with a team they’ve already played??). Oregon punched JMU in the mouth, knocked them on their back then stomped on their throat, before apparently just walking away and letting them get back up to throw rocks at their heads for the second half?
Either way, it was chalk in the two games with G5 teams. Not the case with the rest of round one. Texas A&M did their best to prove winning games in the SEC means absolutely nothing, especially when those wins aren’t against the top of the conference. Miami eliminated them 10-3, holding them to their lowest point total of the year.
Elsewhere in the SEC, #8 Oklahoma jumped on #9 Bama early, going up 17-0 before realizing the entire team apparently had their life savings on the Tide. Several mind-boggling plays later and the Sooners choked away a win, losing 34-24.
That leaves us with Ohio State and Miami in the Cotton Bowl on New Year’s Eve, followed by Texas Tech and Oregon in the Orange Bowl, Indiana vs Alabama in the Rose Bowl and Georgia vs Ole Miss in the Sugar Bowl on New Year’s Day.
As for the Hawkeyes, they’ll have their season wrapped up before that next round of playoffs kicks off. Iowa, of course, will face Vanderbilt in the ReliaQuest Bowl at 11am CT on New Year’s Eve.
The Hawkeyes opened as 4.5-point underdogs according to FanDuel Sportsbook. That has climbed to 5.5-points as of this week, with an over/under that has dropped to 47.5 total points.
If you put any stock at all into the thoughts and opinions of this community, it might be time to hammer that spread. In this week’s Reacts poll, we asked the community how they thought this matchup would play out and a staggering 77% of the fanbase is taking Iowa to win outright (you can get them at +168 on FanDuel if you’re so inclined).
With just over a week until game day, the Hawkeyes appear poised to have everyone participating in the bowl matchup. The same can’t be said for the Commodores, who will be without star TE Eli Stowers. Stowers was a consensus All-American, leading Vanderbilt in receiving with 62 catches for 769 yards, while finishing third with 4 receiving TDs.
While Vandy will be without a key weapon on offense, they’re still expected to have starting QB Diego Pavia, who finished second in the Heisman voting.
Here’s a quick reminder of the details for Iowa’s ReliaQuest showdown with Vanderbilt.
Date: Wednesday, December 31st
Time: 11:03 am CT
Matchup: Iowa Hawkeyes (8-4, 6-3) vs Vanderbilt Commodores (10-2, 6-2)
Location: Raymond James Stadium – Tampa, FL
TV: ESPN
Preliminary Weather Forecast: cloudy with temps in the mid-60s, 25% chance of rain
UpdatedFanDuel Sportsbook Line: Vanderbilt -5.5, O/U 47.5
Category: General Sports
