Iowa vs. Michigan State: Point Spread, Total & Prediction

The 2015 Big Ten Championship Football game is upon us. With increasing amounts of success in recent years and a senior quarterback who’s already becoming the program’s all-time winningest signal-caller, this feels like the peak of the mountain Michigan State has been climbing for a while now.

“We have had great games with Iowa over the past years and I’m sure this will be one of them”, Dantonio said.

Prediction Michigan State will end the dream.

The third-ranked University of Iowa football team is a run-first offense, averaging 203.6 yards per game.

The 2014 ACC player of the year said Friday he received the diagnosis of stage 2 Hodgkin lymphoma on Thanksgiving and has tumors in his neck and chest. They rebounded in spectacular fashion, culminating in a 17-14 win at Ohio Stadium two weekends later to defeat the defending champion Ohio State Buckeyes with a last second field goal.

West Division champ Iowa (12-0, 8-0) is one of two remaining unbeaten teams in the Football Bowl Subdivision and, along with Michigan State, was one of five FBS teams with multiple road wins over ranked foes. It has essentially been a quarterfinal for the national championship.

“Michigan State, until these last three weeks when they’d been questioned, didn’t really show up with cruel intentions”.

Iowa is making its first Big Ten championship game appearance…. “I think C.J. Beathard makes plays, makes good decisions, obviously hasn’t thrown (many) interceptions”. “They want it all”.

Iowa and Michigan State won division championships because of shared fundamental beliefs centered around the development of physical lines on both sides of the ball, a tough-edged approach on defense and a 60-minute approach to the game. “All we’re trying to do is play”. Quarterback play on third down will determine the victor of this game, and Michigan State’s Connor Cook is a better passer and executor in these situations. So far, he’s thrown only three interceptions on 303 pass attempts this year. The bright lights aren’t going to bother the Spartans. The running backs for both teams have been productive, with LJ Scott scoring 10 touchdowns this season for the Spartans and Jordan Canzeri putting up 12 touchdowns while rushing for over 950 yards.

For the first time in the playoff era, both teams in one of these conference championship games know going in they can win a national championship. Michigan State sold out and controlled the OSU run game, and it’s reasonable to expect the Spartans defensive line to do the same to the Hawkeyes. But make no mistake, Michigan State is here.

Despite a resurgent season under new coach Jim McElwain, the offensively challenged Gators are a massive 18-point underdog against Alabama (11-1, No. 2 CFP), which is one victory away from a second straight trip to the College Football Playoff. But the Hawkeyes easily dispatched the Redbirds, 31-14, and haven’t looked back.

My head tells me to take the Spartans, but my heart tells me to opt for the Hawkeyes. As Dantonio said earlier this season, he’s not selling hope to recruits-he’s selling results.