3 hours ago 2

Hawkeye Football: Updated Game Line, Weather Forecast for Iowa-Rutgers

Iowa at Rutgers. Always the biggest Big Ten game on the calendar, right?

For this season, it really is a big damn deal for Iowa (and probably Rutgers too.) Win and Iowa’s mostly right again heading into a crucial showdown with Indiana. Lose and we start getting nervous. Will Iowa make a bowl this year if they lose tonight??

Before we talk lines, let’s talk weather. The weather tonight looks gorgeous in Piscataway, with the temperatures at a perfect 74 at kickoff. Temperatures will stay in the low 70s and finish in the upper 60s around the time this should end. And the wind conditions look light. It will be a perfect night for a football game. Tailgating also looks great - the high is supposed to be in the mid-80s today.

FanDuel has the line at Iowa -1.5. It opened at Iowa -3.5, dropped initially to -2.5 and held there all week. I haven’t watched Rutgers at all this year, but statistically their defense has struggled. That doesn’t tend to mean much against Iowa - they can make some iffy units look like the Steel Curtain. Where I’d be worried if I were Rutgers is that run defense. As our friends at On The Banks noted, they Scarlet Knights give up nearly 150 yards rushing per game and have had trouble with mobile quarterbacks. Words like “blown coverage” and “poor tackling angles” really stood out in The Butcher’s Word this week and it’s sweet music to my ears. That seems to tilt things Iowa’s way on the road, even if Rutgers offense is more potent than years past. Get this win, then set up a huge game next week with Indiana in Kinnick that can get Iowa to 4-1 and crucially, 2-0 in league play. It will be close but if Rutgers has been susceptible to big plays and bad tackling…well even Iowa can overcome that. Right?

Date: Friday, September 19th
Time: 7:00 pm CT
Matchup: Iowa Hawkeyes (2-1, 0-0) at Rutgers Scarlet Knights (3-0, 0-0)
Location: SHI Stadium, Piscataway, New Jersey
TV: Fox
Updated Weather Forecast: Clear with temperatures in the mid-70s at kickoff.
Updated FanDuel Line: Iowa -1.5, O/U 46.5