Rose Bowl: Iowa vs Stanford

The Hawkeyes and Cardinal square off in the "Close but no Cigar" Bowl of 2015, as both teams were in the bubble bloodbath of teams that didn't quite make into the small college football playoff tub that only fits four. Iowa has the most recent sting, coming up one 4th and 2 defensive play away from fitting in the final game of their season. Stanford, of course, started off the season with a bad loss and with an additional loss to Oregon was on the outside looking in, "Psycho" strings snapping, knife in hand, waiting for someone to falter inside. Instead they hitch the Hawks in a New Year's Day Bowl. Stanford should win this game because of superior talent and match ups in the passing game. Iowa actually rates to have a higher ypc average than STAN for in this game, but that will depend on Iowa RB Canzeri recovering from a bum ankle in time for this game. The Hawkeyes have a couple of decent backs behind him, but he's been their workhorse. Hogan and McCaffrey for STAN have been enough to beat most teams this season, but Iowa is a cut above your average team. This should be a close game, but I'm not looking to back the Hawkeyes unless the line were to rise to 7.5+ for some odd reason. There's a little bit of value on the Over, as both teams have good offensive balance coupled with fading run defenses for both teams as well. Just today added a recommended investment on the Over 52 for 0.7% when that # was available, and adding Iowa +7 (-120) for 0.5%.