The Western Michigan Broncos and the Iowa Hawkeyes meet in week 3 college football action from Kinnick Stadium on Saturday afternoon.

Western Michigan Routed By Syracuse

The Western Michigan Broncos fell to 1-1 on the year after ending up on the wrong side of a 48-7 rout at the hands of Syracuse in their last game. Jack Salopek has thrown for 280 yards, a touchdown and 2 interceptions on 68.8% passing while Jalen Buckley leads WMU in rushing with 281 yards and a pair of touchdowns this season. Kenneth Womack also has 121 receiving yards to lead the Broncos’ receiving corps this season. On defense, Tate Hallock leads the Broncos with 17 total tackles including 12 solo tackles while Boone Bonnema has a team-high 1.5 sacks for WMU who have 5 sacks as a whole this season.

Western Michigan Broncos Team Facts

– Western Michigan has lost each of its last six games against opponents from the Big Ten Conference.
– Western Michigan has failed to cover the spread in each of its last six games against opponents from the Big Ten Conference.
– Western Michigan has lost the first half in 16 of its last 17 games against opponents from the Big Ten Conference.
– Each of Western Michigan’s last eight games have gone UNDER the total points line.

Iowa Shuts Down Iowa State

The Iowa Hawkeyes came out on top in the Cy-Hawk classic, taking down Iowa State by a final score of 20-13 to improve to 2-0 on the year. Cade McNamara has thrown for 314 yards, 2 touchdowns and an interception on 55.8% passing while Kaleb Johnson leads Iowa with 91 rushing yards and a touchdown this season. Luke Lachey has a team-high 10 catches for 131 yards as well to lead Iowa’s receiving corps this year. On defense, Jay Higgins leads Iowa with 23 total tackles including 14 solo tackles while Sebastian Castro and Xavier Nwankpa each have an Interception and Deontae Craig has Iowa’s lone sack this season.

Iowa Hawkeyes Team Facts

– Iowa has won 13 of its last 14 September games against non-AP-ranked teams.
– The team ranked 25th in the AP Poll has failed to cover the spread in each of its last four games.
– Iowa has won the first quarter in eight of its last nine games against non-conference opponents at Kinnick Stadium.
– Iowa has won the first half in each of its last five games against non-conference opponents.
– Each of Iowa’s last 10 games against non-conference opponents have gone UNDER the total points line.

Matchup/League Facts

– Iowa ranked 1st among FBS teams for Q4 points allowed per game last season (3.4).
– Iowa ranked 2nd among FBS teams for H2 points allowed per game last season (6.3).
– Western Michigan was one of only 17 FBS teams with a better road winning percentage (.500) than home winning percentage (.333) last season (min. 8 games).
– Western Michigan ranked T19th among FBS teams for Q3 points allowed per game last season (3.8).

Chris’ Pick

I’m sticking with the under here. If Western Michigan struggles to break down Syracuse’s defense, I shudder to think what’s going to happen when you go up against the likes of Iowa here. On the other side, we have seen Iowa’s offensive potential improve with Cade McNamara under center, but this is still an Iowa team that put up just 24 on a bad Utah State team and 20 last week. I think this is another low-scoring defensive clinic from Iowa, so give me the under here.