Kentucky Wildcats vs. Iowa Hawkeyes: Betting Guide

It is a matchup Mike Stoops will relish. Kentucky’s head coach is the brother of Bob Stoops, who played college football at the University of Iowa. Mike Stoops gets to face the Hawkeyes in the 2022 Citrus Bowl. This is a battle of two coaches – Stoops and Kirk Ferentz – who are great at coaching defense and run into problems when coaching offense. It’s a game to be savored if you love seeing great defense and quality defensive coaching. Offense? Try to find another game.

• Game: Kentucky (9-3) vs. Iowa (10-3)
• Location: Camping World Stadium (Orlando)
• Day/Time: Saturday, January 1 – 1:00 p.m. ET
• Television: ABC

The Wildcats closed their regular season in style on Thanksgiving weekend, thrashing the archrival Louisville Cardinals. Kentucky put all the pieces together and hammered Louisville on both sides of the ball, establishing complete dominance of the line of scrimmage. Kentucky went through some wobbles in its 2021 regular season, most notably a 45-42 loss to Tennessee in which Kentucky controlled the ball for more than 45 minutes and yet gave up 45 points in the small amount of time Tennessee possessed the ball. That was a brutal loss, but Kentucky’s defense got healthier and made adjustments, as shown in the Louisville game. With five weeks to prepare and heal for this game, one should expect Kentucky’s defense to be back in a good rhythm. The Wildcats can’t play wild shootouts. This Citrus Bowl should be a stylistic fit for what Kentucky likes to do, and how Kentucky likes to play.

Iowa got steamrolled by a superior Michigan team in the Big Ten Championship Game in Indianapolis. Iowa was making its first appearance in the Big Ten title game since 2015. Iowa failed to make big plays early in the game when Michigan was struggling. After those initial missed opportunities, the Hawkeyes lost momentum and got flattened by a Michigan team which advanced to the College Football Playoff.

Iowa did well to make the Big Ten title game, it should be noted. Iowa trailed by double-digits midway through the second half at Nebraska on Thanksgiving Friday. Its offense was struggling against the fired-up Cornhuskers in this Heartland feud. The roaring Nebraska crowd was delighting in Iowa’s misery. Everything looked bleak. Then, however, a blocked punt changed everything. Iowa scored an immediate special-teams touchdown, and from that point onward, the Hawkeyes rolled. They silenced the Nebraska crowd and shut down the Huskers’ offense, rallying for a big victory which gave them a Big Ten West Division championship for the first time since 2015.

Betting on the Game

With Kentucky’s defense healthy, and given Iowa’s struggles on offense, the best play in this game is the under, more than a head-to-head spread or moneyline winner.