Minnesota vs. Iowa point spread: Picking Golden Gophers vs. Hawkeyes

The Minnesota Golden Gophers and Iowa Hawkeyes are set to renew their rivalry this weekend in Iowa. Both teams will battle it out for the coveted Floyd of Rosedale Trophy, a bronze trophy in the shape of a pig that’s awarded to the winning team.

Even though the Iowa Hawkeyes have dominated the series in recent years, this weekend’s matchup figures to be a close one. Three of the last four games in the rivalry have been decided by five points or less. The experts in Las Vegas agree with that sentiment and they currently have the 24th-ranked Hawkeyes listed as a 3.5-point favorite, according to FanDuel. On Wednesday evening, Richard Johnson of Sports Illustrated joined On3’s Andy Staples to share their thoughts on who would come out on top in this year’s version of the rivalry.

“Are you ready for your eyes to bleed?” Andy Staples joked about this weekend’s game between Iowa and Minnesota. The over/under for the matchup is 32.5 points, which figures to be one of the lowest point totals for the entire 2023-2024 college football season.

Johnson is aware of the low over/under point total this weekend and he made sure to let everyone know just how historically low the point total for this game is.

“2021, I wrote a story. Iowa’s playing I believe Wisconsin. And the total was 37. And I talked to some oddsmakers and all this other sort of stuff and they were like, yeah, since 2010, they had found I believe it was 16 totals that were 37 or lower. I believe the closest, that was a non-service academy game, was a bad Vanderbilt team and a bad Missouri team, had a total of like 34. And it went under,” Johnson laughed.

“And here we sit,” Johnson continued. “This is probably as low a total that doesn’t involve service academy teams, that you pretty much ever see in the post-modern era of college football.”

Iowa currently ranks 114th out of 133 qualifying teams in scoring offense, averaging 20.9 points per game. Minnesota currently ranks 111th out of 133 qualifying teams in scoring offense, averaging 21.7 points per game.

Johnson decided to roll with the Hawkeyes and go with under of the total of 32.5. “And in this game, God help us all, I take Iowa minus 3.5 and I think I will go under,” Johnson said. On3’s Andy Staples joined him in picking Iowa to cover the 3.5-point spread and picking under the 32.5 game total.

Iowa is coming off a 15-6 road victory over the Wisconsin Badgers. The Minnesota Golden Gophers are coming off an absolute thrashing at the hands of the mighty Michigan Wolverines. The Wolverines dished out a 52-10 beatdown that Golden Gopher fans won’t soon forget.

Iowa and Minnesota will kick off on Saturday, Oct. 21. Kick time for that one is set for 3:30 PM EST.