Insight Bowl, Missouri Vs. Iowa Pick: Tigers Should Cover Against Depleted Hawkeyes

The 2010 college football postseason continues Tuesday night with the Champs Sports Bowl and the Insight Bowl. This is the part of the StoryStream where we somewhat haphazardly suggest what you do with your money. Degenerate gamblers, start your engines. Now playing: Missouri and Iowa in the Insight Bowl.

The line: Missouri is a slight favorite at Bodog, giving three points to Iowa.

Notable Missouri units: The Tigers’ offense ranks 44th in the country with 30.33 points scored per game, and do so with a balanced attack: of their 843 total offensive plays in 2010, nearly exactly half (410, or 48.6%) were rushing attempts. But the defense is what wins games at Missouri. The Dave Steckel-led unit lead the Big 12 Conference and was sixth in the country in scoring defense, allowing just 15.2 points per game, and finished tied for sixth nationally with 37 sacks.

Notable Iowa units: The Hawkeyes are nothing special on offense -- with 29 ppg, they finished sixth in the Big Ten in scoring offense, and 48th nationally -- but they are efficient when it counts: Iowa was 13th in country in red zone offense, scoring nearly 90 percent of the time (40 scores in 45 trips). Which is good, because they’re going up against the country’s best red zone defense in Missouri -- the Tigers allowed just five touchdowns in 31 chances, and teams scores just 55 percent of the time. Much like their Insight Bowl counterparts, Iowa’s strength is its defense, which finished seventh nationally in scoring defense, allowing just 16.4 points per contest.

The pick: While it’s never fun picking against Ricky Stanzi (and America), Iowa enters Tuesday night’s Insight Bowl having lost three straight games, including the regular season finale at 3-9 Minnesota. Additionally, the Hawkeyes are without RB Adam Robinson (suspended before Monday’s marijuana arrest) and WR Derrell Johnson-Koulianos (suspended for drug charges). Expect Mizzou to easily cover the three points in Tempe.

The 2010 Insight Bowl kicks off at 10 p.m. EST. The game will be televised on ESPN.