Thursday, February 9th, 2012
The Iowa St Cyclones representing the Big 12 conference will do battle with the Minnesota Gophers from the Big 10 conference in the Insight Bowl on Thursday December 31st. Kick off time at Sun Devil Stadium in Tempe Arizona is scheduled for 6PM Eastern Time with national television coverage provided by the NFL Network. The LVSC college football odds makers have set the opening point spread in this game and the Minnesota Gophers were opened as 1 ½ point favorites with the over under coming in at 47 ½. The early money from the college football betting public has come in on the favorite, as the Minnesota Gophers are currently a 2-½ point favorite. The total has seen early movement from the college football betting public towards the over, as the over under is currently lined at 48 ½ for the bettors to play into. College football money line gamblers can make a bet on the favored Minnesota Gophers are –140 with the underdog Iowa Cyclones bringing back +120 to win without the needs for getting the points.
Iowa St enters the Insight Bowl with a 6-6 record. The team is coming off a 34-24 loss at Missouri way back on November 21st. The Cyclones gave up over 500 yards of offense to the Tigers during their defeat. Junior quarterback Austen Arnaud is under center for the Cyclones and the signal caller hit on 57% of his passes for 13 touchdowns and 11 interceptions. The offense averages just 21 points per game. Junior running back Alexander Robinson had a good season with 5.0 yards per carry average on the season. The Cyclones have a high profile victory this season over Nebraska 9-7. Iowa St had many blowout losses on their ledger with three losses by 25 points or more on the season. Iowa St has a very poor defense ranking 11th in the Big 12 conference allowing 414 yards per game. Iowa St had a 4 game improvement in 2009 after going 2-10 in 2008. Iowa St head coach Paul Rhoads is in his first year with the school and is leading the Cyclones to a bowl game for the first time since 2005. Minnesota sits with a 6-6 record and coming off a 12-0 loss at Iowa on November 21st. The team struggled big time on offense with just 48 yards rushing on 36 carries. Junior quarterback Adam Weber was miserable passing the football hitting on just 14 of 40 for 153 yards. Weber has battled accuracy issues with passing accuracy of 47.6% or worse in 5 of his past 6 games. Completing 10 of 21 of his passes at home against South Dakota State is not an encouraging sign. The Gophers were a miserable offense averaging just 295 yards a game and ranking 11th and last in the Big Ten conference. They averaged just 21.6 points per game on the season. Leading ball carrier Duane Bennett averages a mere 3.8 yards a carry. The Gophers offensive line had a very poor season allowing 38 sacks to their quarterback ranking last in conference. On the defensive side the team allows 24.6 points per game on the season. Minnesota’s notable victories over bowl teams came against Air Force, Northwestern and Michigan St. Tim Brewster is in his third with as head coach with the program. He is leading Minnesota to their second bowl game under his tenure with the team. Minnesota was pounded in their bowl game last year losing to Kansas 42-21 as a 9-½ point underdog.
For the Latest CFB Odds Please Visit our CFB Odds Page
CFB Trend: Iowa St Cyclones are 6-1 to the under in their past 7 games
The Wagerline consensus has 64.3% of the CFB bettors on Minnesota –2 1/2
The Wagerline consensus has 56.5% of the CFB bettors playing under 48 1/2
Tags: college football betting odds, iowa st cyclones versus minnesota gophers nfl network tv insight bowl college football betting odds pick preview
