Cheez-It Citrus Bowl point spread: Picking Iowa Hawkeyes vs. Tennessee Volunteers

In one of the final non-playoff bowl games, No. 17 Iowa (10-3) and No. 21 Tennessee (8-4) will meet in the Cheez-It Citrus Bowl in Orlando.

The Big Ten runner up will face off with a Southeastern Conference opponent that’ll now be starting a star freshman at quarterback. With plenty to discuss between the Hawkeyes and Volunteers, On3’s Andy Staples and Ralph Russo of the Associated Press sat down and made their picks for the matchup on ‘Andy Staples On3’ on Wednesday.

How to watch Iowa vs. Tennessee

Time: 1 p.m. ET on January 1st
Channel: ABC, FuboTV (streaming)
Location: Camping World Stadium (Orlando, Florida)

It’s worth noting that their segment was before the announcement of Nico Iamaleava starting in the place of Joe Milton.

Still, Russo went through a roller coaster when it came to his selection. To start, he was good with taking Iowa as he had some faith in the Hawkeyes to make a game of this with a seven and a half point spread to work with.

“I like what Iowa is bringing to this game,” said Russo.

“Again, I’m looking at that -7.5. Seeing the way Iowa plays, knowing the Tennessee team? I could see a situation here where Tennessee wins 23-3 or something along those lines,” Russo said. “I’ll probably take Tennessee to win, I’ll give Iowa a little benefit of the doubt here and sort of envision in my head something that looks like 20-13. That could be a possibility there.”

However, after talking it through more with Staples, Russo ended up making a full 180 in favor of the Volunteers. While the Iowa defense should cause more than a few problems for Tennessee, he isn’t sure how the Hawkeye offense will come close enough to win it against the spread either.

“Can I reconsider this? Can I reconsider my stance here? Suddenly, I’m finding myself thinking, like, ‘Wait a second?'” laughed Russo. “Iowa is really going to have a hard time breaking 10 here. I think Tennessee will arrive with something good enough.”

“You know what, if I can? I’m going to flip that around,” Russo determined. “I’ll take Tennessee and the points and assume it’s something a little closer to 20-3.”

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As for Staples, he needed little convincing as he was ready to lay the points with Tennessee from the beginning. He is also certain that, once again, the under will hit in a game involving Iowa because of how this contest sets up on both sides.

“I agree with you and we’re both taking the under here at 36.5,” said Staples. “It feels impossible because we’ve seen Tennessee’s offense play. Iowa’s defense is going to slow them down.”