Oddsmakers have released win totals for the 2016 college football season.
I’ll take look at each power conference and pick the teams with the best chances to earn the over and the under. Here’s my look at two teams in the Big 10 destined for the under in 2016.
Iowa Hawkeyes, over/under 8.5 (over -110/under -110)
I’m not falling into the trap. Every year the experts believe that Iowa will compete for a title, they fail to live up to expectations. Every year that experts believe Kirk Ferentz is on the hot seat and the Hawkeyes would be lucky to make a bowl game, they have seasons like they did last year.
This season falls into the high expectations category.
It’s tough not to get too excited about Iowa’s chances. The schedule lacks Ohio State and Michigan State, and the only semi-road test will come at Penn State on Nov. 5. It’s difficult to see Iowa as the underdog in many games, other than at home against Michigan.
But the Hawks play too many close games for me to risk money on an over that would require them to reach nine wins. Last season, five of their 12 wins were by one possession. That doesn’t count the close games that finished as two possession games late in the fourth quarter.
The Big 10 is full of teams similar to Iowa. They’re not spectacular, but solid in multiple ways.
Who are the real Hawkeyes? Is it the team that won 12 games against sub-par competition and then went to the wire in the Big 10 Championship game? Or is it the team that got embarrassed in the Rose Bowl?
I’m thinking Iowa reverts back to its old ways and wins seven, maybe eight games, but won’t be the hot college football topic in 2016. — Under
Michigan Wolverines, over/under 10 (over -110/under -110)
This is based purely on my disbelief that Jim Harbaugh can turn it around this fast.
Michigan will be improved, but am I really to believe that it will only lose one game? I know the Big 10 is full of a bunch of middle-of-the-road teams, but that’s quite an ask for a team that has won double-digit regular season games only once since 2006.
The team returns a healthy amount of starters and will feature solid offensive and defensive lines. They must replace Jake Rudock, but that won’t be too difficult considering he’s not a main weapon on offense and Harbaugh does well with quarterbacks.
The Wolverines should win the Big 10 this season and they have a favorable schedule (that’s a recurring theme in the Big 10). But they still play Wisconsin and Penn State at home, and then travel to Michigan State, Iowa and Ohio State in the season’s second half.
There’s enough stumbling blocks on that schedule to believe at least two losses is a possibility. — Under
