2005 Iowa Hawkeyes Handicapping Review

 

By Tom Wilkinson

 

The Iowa Hawkeyes have continued to deliver not only excellent value, but real hard in the black sports betting profit results to the deeper members of the sports handicapping community who recognize excellence in their coach, Kirk Ferentz, as well as the Hawkeyes being a “generic” brand in a “name brand” league that features Ohio State, Michigan, and Penn State. Despite being a perennial Big Ten Conference title contender, Iowa continually gets ignored by the general sports betting public that focuses on those aforementioned “name brand” schools, regardless of their true sports handicapping merits.

Starting in 2001 Iowa has posted records of 7-4-1, 9-3-1, 10-3, and 9-3 against the odds and during that same time span they have only lost ONE game against the sports betting line to either Michigan or Ohio State, which is a graphic illustration of their outstanding sports handicapping value.

Iowa’s value only increased in the early stages of 2004 as they dropped two of their first three games against the odds including a 7-44 debacle at Arizona State as two-point dogs. The devastating defeat at the hands of the Sun Devils only drove more of the general sports betting public away from the Hawkeyes, which increased their overall value with the sharper sports bettors, who would end up making a killing the rest of the way by including Iowa on their list of football picks.

After their loss at Arizona State, Iowa gave a tremendous demonstration in sports handicapping value when, as a 13.5-point dog at Michigan, the eked out a 17-30 loss but cover against the odds. Many online sports betting blogs posted how the “Big Blue” of Michigan would steamroll past the Hawkeyes, but the smart money took the points. At this point, Iowa was 2-2 straight up and against the odds and hardly impressive after those back to back straight up losses.

Iowa won and covered their next three consecutive games, however, to get into the Big Ten race including a 33-7 win as 1-point home dogs against Ohio State. The Hawks would end up beating the sports betting odds in eight of their final nine games and take a share of the Big Ten crown, along with a miracle win over LSU in the Capital One Bowl. A team touted as rebuilding ended up reloading for sharp sports bettors.