Ohio State vs. Iowa odds, spread, lines: Week 8 college football picks, predictions by computer model
A pair of Big Ten rivals meet up at the Horseshoe when Ohio State hosts Iowa in college football's Week 8 action on Saturday.
Ohio State is coming off an idle week to rest its offense, the second-best in college football in total production and its best in scoring per game.
Iowa, not so much: it ranks fourth-worst nationally with 14.7 points per game and is dead last in FBS in total offense with 238.7 yards per game, or a little under half of the average Ohio State game.
What do the experts think of the matchup? Let's see how the College Football Power Index computer prediction model projects the game.
Ohio State vs. Iowa picks, predictions
Week 8 college football picks: Ohio State vs. Iowa
As expected, the computers are siding with the Buckeyes, who have the comfortable 95.5 percent chance to defeat the Hawkeyes on Saturday.
By contrast, Iowa has the slim 4.5 percent shot to upend Ohio State on the road.
The oddsmakers agree, as Ohio State comes into the game 29 point favorites over Iowa, according to the lines at SI Sportsbook, which set the over/under mark at 49 points for the matchup.
Ohio State checks in at No. 1 in the index's 131 college football rankings this week, overtaking Alabama and Georgia, owing to its projected per-game scoring margin of 28.7 points against an average opponent on a neutral field, the highest mark of any team nationally.
FPI projects Ohio State will win 12.0 games, the most of any team in the nation, and has the 81.0 percent chance to make the College Football Playoff, also the highest mark for any team.
Iowa owns the No. 40 overall position on the computer's updated rankings, expected to win 5.8 games this season with a 63.1 percent shot to finish the season bowl eligible.
College Football Power Index
Football Power Index (FPI) college football rankings and computer prediction model are a measure of team strength that predicts a team’s future performance.
Rankings and scores predictions are based on 20,000 simulations of a team’s season, using a combination of analytics, including scores to date, quality of opponents, and a team’s schedule.
College football rankings
According to AP top 25 poll
- Georgia
- Ohio State
- Tennessee
- Michigan
- Clemson
- Alabama
- Ole Miss
- TCU
- UCLA
- Oregon
- Oklahoma State
- USC
- Wake Forest
- Syracuse
- Utah
- Penn State
- Kansas State
- Illinois
- Kentucky
- Texas
- Cincinnati
- North Carolina
- NC State
- Mississippi State
- Tulane