Iowa Hawkeyes

The Iowa Hawkeyes were underdogs four times in 2025, lost all four, and covered all four. They also covered all five road games, and over the season only seven FBS teams beat the spread more often, two as often.

Losing by less than the line

Iowa went 8-4 and 9-3 against the spread. All four losses came as underdogs, and none was by more than five points: 16-13 at Iowa State at +3.5, 20-15 to Indiana at +8.5, 18-16 to Oregon at +4.5 and 26-21 at USC at +6.5. No FBS team had a better cover rate as an underdog; eleven others matched it.

On the road

Five road games, three wins, five covers: 38-28 at Rutgers laying 2.5, 37-0 at Wisconsin laying 4.5 and 40-16 at Nebraska laying 5.5, plus the losses at Iowa State and USC. No FBS team covered a higher share of road games, and three others covered all of theirs too.

The moneyline

Nine games had a price. The four underdog games lost four units. The five priced favorite games made 2.34; only eight FBS teams made more as favorites. Across all nine, one unit on Iowa each time finished 1.66 down. Iowa won all eight games it was favored in; the two that missed the spread with a price were 25-24 over Penn State at -3.5 and 20-17 over Michigan State at -17.5.

The total

Seven under, five over. Opponents averaged 15.17 points against Iowa; eight FBS defences gave up fewer.

Iowa’s bowl was a 34-27 ReliaQuest Bowl win over Vanderbilt.

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