Saturday’s contest between the Rutgers Scarlet Knights and the Iowa Hawkeyes has all the makings to be a defensive slugfest for the agges.
Both teams (Rutgers 6-3, Iowa 7-2) have been carried by stingy defenses. The Scarlet Knights are allowing just 17.9 points per game, while Kirk Ferentz’s Hawkeyes are surrendering just 13.7 per contest.
As noted by ESPN’s David Purdum, the total consensus of the over/under for Rutgers vs. Iowa is only 28 points. Unless there’s a change in the next 48 hours, this over/under total will set a historic low:
“As of late Thursday morning, the total sat at a consensus 28, the lowest of any college football game since at least 2000, according to ESPN Stats & Information research. Barring late line movement, Rutgers-Iowa will be the first game with an over/under total of less than 30 in ESPN’s odds database.”
Purdum spoke to Caesars Sportsbook oddsmaker Craig Mucklow, who stated that he couldn’t find a single game with an over/under total in the 20s. Mucklow added that in the past five years alone, there have been a whopping 1,500 games that carried a first-half total of over 28.
The Scarlet Knights have only allowed 20-plus points in two contests, and one of them was a 31-14 blowout win over Indiana anyway. Last week, however, they were soundly defeated 35-16 by the No. 1 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes.
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After visiting Iowa on Saturday, Rutgers will travel to Penn State for a showdown with the No. 10 ranked Nittany Lions. They’ll wrap up the regular season with a home tilt against Maryland on Nov. 26.
The Hawkeyes have only allowed more than 16 points in a game once, and that was in their 31-0 blowout loss at the hands of Penn State on Sept. 23.
