posted August 7, 2007 at 20:05 in NCAA F Articles
College Football Betting - Iowa State Cyclones 2007 Preview - Big 12 Conference
The unexpected collapse of Iowa State last year was very much a function of injuries, but it cost head coach Dan McCarney his job - he landed at South Florida along with one of his top LB’s, Tyrone McKenzie.
This year the college football betting public will make hay if they place a bet on this team to win the Big 12 North Division. The BetUS sportsbook has NCAA football odds of +900 for Iowa State to completely turn around their program and take the division.
Former Texas D-Coordinator, Gene Chizik, takes over in Ames and has his hands full. Six of the OL’s two-deep graduated, which means that the talented Bret Meyer could be running for his life most of next season.
The loss of FB Ryan Koch could be the biggest blow, although Jason Harris (5-11, 208) didn’t seem to suffer from the losses in the spring game (10-103), which begs the question of whether his production was a function of his great effort or porous defenses. Meyer completed 11 of 16 for 196 yds and was 6-134 to R.J. Sumrall (6-1, 200; Jr.).
When healthy, Todd Blythe is one of the game’s best, but he was injured through much of last season. The unit needs him to stay healthy this year. The biggest losses on defense are DE Shawn Moorehead, DT Brent Curvey and McKenzie.
Still, LB “Ace” Bowen (the nation’s leading tackler in ’06) is back as is the entire defensive backfield. Chizik has devised a system to take the burden off of Bowen so he does not feel like he has to make every play. Of course, that requires his supporting cast to make plays of its own; something that the 451 total yards given up in the spring game did little to inspire confidence for it to occur in 2007.
NCAA FOOTBALL ODDS TO WIN: North Division:
Nebraska (-120)
Missouri (+175)
Kansas State (+300)
Colorado (+700)
Kansas (+700)
Iowa State (+900)
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