ORANGE BOWL PICKS AND ANALYSIS: IOWA VS. GEORGIA TECH

It’ll be a matchup of contrasting styles as Georgia Tech takes on Iowa in the Orange Bowl at Land Shark Stadium in Miami, Florida.  Georgia Tech enters the game with a potent, spread option offense that has the Yellow Jackets ranked #11 in total offense.  Iowa, meanwhile, is ranked #11 in total defense.  Like Ella Fitzgerald and Frank Sinatra once sang “Something’s Gotta Give”.  The Yellow Jackets are a -5’ point college football betting favorite with the total set at 51.

Paul Johnson is in his second season as Georgia Tech coach, and the Yellow Jackets went 11-2 winning the ACC Championship with a come from behind victory over Clemson in the process.  It was the Jackets’ first ACC title since they shared it with Florida State in 1998 and the first one they’ve won outright since 1990.  Key to Georgia Tech’s success is a hard to defend spread option offense featuring running back Jonathan Dwyer and quarterback Josh Nesbitt.  Dwyer ran for 1,346 yards and 14 touchdowns while Nesbitt rushed for 991 and 18 touchdowns.  Georgia Tech averages 442.7 yards with 307.2 of them coming by way of the rush, #2 in the nation.
 
Iowa will get quarterback Ricky Stanzi and running back Adam Robinson back here after the two offense playmakers missed games late in the season due to injury.  Still, the Hawkeyes are ill equipped to get into a shootout with the Yellow Jackets and will have to get a good performance from their defense if they are to prevail.  Iowa gives up 286.7 total yards per game, 122.0 rushing and are 10th in scoring defense, allowing 15.5 a game.

Ultimately, this is a very bad stylistic matchup for Iowa.  Their defense played well this season and the Hawkeyes’ linebacking corps is among the best in the country.  Unfortunately, tactics and fundamentals alone aren’t enough to stop the Georgia Tech spread option.  Most of all that takes team speed, and that’s the one area that the Iowa defense simply can’t compete.  Further exacerbating Iowa’s problems is a lengthy layoff between the end of the regular season and this game.  Iowa last played on November 21, while Georgia Tech has played two big games since then—against in-state rival Georgia and in the ACC Championship against Clemson.  With that layoff and with Stanzi and Robinson seeing their first action since their injuries it may take Iowa some time to get in sync and they can’t afford that against the Yellow Jackets.

Even in the best case scenario, Iowa would struggle to prepare for the intricacies of Tech’s spread option offense which is unlike anything they’ve faced this season.  Unfortunately, even if they are able to assimilate what Tech does on a tactical level they really don’t have the speed to stop it.  This will result in a situation where the Iowa offense is under pressure to match the Yellow Jackets score for score and they simply don’t have the personnel to do it.  Georgia Tech wins and covers the number, with the game going OVER the total.

Play the Orange Bowl Georgia Tech vs. Iowa at Sports-1.