Iowa Sizable Favorites vs. Michigan State

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The 6-4 Iowa Hawkeyes just sold out their final home game of the year. For one final time, Kinnick Stadium will be packed as tens of thousands of rowdy fans know what the outcome should be.
On paper, Iowa is 16.5 point favorites. The Hawkeyes may have just lost to Oregon and USC, but those are two ranked teams that may find themselves in the College Football Playoffs. The opposite can be said of 3-7 Michigan State, a Spartans team that has yet to win a conference game.
Iowa Loves To Win Big
Our game against Michigan State this weekend is officially SOLD OUT‼️ pic.twitter.com/XHNdYgUNQI
— Hawkeye Football (@HawkeyeFootball) November 18, 2025
It's been discussed time and time again, but this Iowa team loves to lose in heartbreaking fashion or win big. They don't often win games by one-score, which is quite the accomplishment, to say the least. That said, all of their wins have come against opponents they have no business losing to in the first place.
Looking ahead to November 22, the same can be said about the Spartans. MSU is 0-7 in the B1G and is coming off an embarrassing loss to Penn State. They handed the Nittany Lions their first conference win, something no team should just be getting at this point in the season.
If Iowa has anything to say about it, they aren't about to let Michigan State walk all over them. 16.5 points is the spread, according to ESPN. With the over/under set at 42.5, it goes to show just how few points they believe MSU will score given how much of a favorite Iowa truly is.
Iowa Looks To Get Back On Track
One last time in Kinnick this Saturday. pic.twitter.com/7AC9rufjKb
— Hawkeye Football (@HawkeyeFootball) November 17, 2025
If there was ever the perfect game to regroup, it's this one. Hawkeyes fans don't want to leave Kinnick Stadium for the final time this season in heartbreaking fashion, they've had enough of that in the past two weeks. Instead, they're looking for an outcome similar to their home games against Albany, UMass, and Minnesota.
Iowa also went to Rutgers and Wisconsin and won big, though the Scarlet Knights game was an absolute rollercoaster in the first half. They went to Camp Randall and shut out the Badgers, 37-0. This year, at home, they have a +106 point differential in their four wins. This is not counting their losses to Indiana or Oregon, though those two games would only knock seven points off the board.
Michigan State is dealing with some quarterback injuries, so the odds are further stacked against them. Knowing how their season has gone, it would take a miracle for them to knock off a Hawkeyes team that has a chip on their shoulder after how the last two weeks have played out.
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Jordon Lawrenz serves as the Eastern United States College Recruiting beat writer On SI. Jordon is an accomplished writer covering the NFL, MLB, and college football/basketball. He has contributed to PFSN’s and Heavy’s NFL coverage. Having graduated from the University of Wisconsin - Green Bay with a Sports Communication and Journalism degree, Jordon fully embraced the sports writing lifestyle upon his relocation to Florida.