Outback Bowl Betting Odds: Iowa vs. LSU. Another great New Year’s Day Bowl game on Wednesday, January 1st 2014 with the game being played at the Raymond James Stadium (65,657) in Tampa, Florida with the Iowa HAWKEYES (8-4, 5-3 Big Ten) playing the # 21 LSU TIGERS (9-3, 5-3 SEC) with kick off at 1 pm ET and on ESPN TV.
At the sports wagering site for those that Bet on College Football the opening line at Bet Royal has the Tigers of LSU favored at -7 -115 with the total at 49 and -290 money line. The Tigers three losses where all road games as they lost to Ole Miss, Georgia and Alabama and a feather in their cap is that they are the only team to beat the Auburn Tigers this year and that was with QB Mettenberger playing and he now is injured with a torn ACL in cannot play in this bowl game of Outback Bowl.
A major concern for this game is can back-up QB Jennings while making his 1st start of the season will he get the job done? For his sake he has talented receivers with Landry and Beckham and RB Hill who has 14 TD’s on the year with 184 yards offense and averages 6.8 yards each carry. LSU ranks 21st averaging 27 points each game with an offense that is well balanced averaging 265.1 yards passing and 200.9 yards rushing per game Outback Bowl .
Meanwhile the Iowa Hawkeyes who have a big offensive line and some big running backs like to run the ball and they are very physical. Their line average 6’5” and 302 pounds with LT Scherff at 6’5” who could go in the 1st or 2nd round of the NFL draft. Their leading rusher is RB Weisman who is 6’2” and 236 pounds previously their fullback. The Hawkeyes have an excellent running game and they like to control the game with the same. One problem Iowa must overcome in this game is the reduction of penalties.
This could be a last game for many of the Hawkeye players as they are considering leaving early for the NFL draft. Since Coach Fry took over the Iowa team some 15 years ago he has the team in a bowl game for the 11th time and won six of those bowl games. For BCS games is 1-1 and the experts say that Iowa may not beat LSU but an Iowa team is always a good wager in a bowl game. This is another interesting bowl matchup that should keep the fans on the edge of the seats!