College Football Betting: Four best bets for Week 5

Sep 26, 2015; Iowa City, IA, USA; Iowa Hawkeyes running back Jordan Canzeri (33) celebrates one of his three first half touchdowns against the North Texas Mean Green at Kinnick Stadium. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports

Iowa at Wisconsin (-7)

When: Saturday at 12:00 ET

I was very intrigued to see where this line would open after the games last weekend. Iowa had a trap game against North Texas but responded well by scoring 62 points. Wisconsin beat Hawaii 28-0 to complete a three-game stretch of playing weak competition. The Badgers opened as 9.5-point favorites and before you could blink the line dropped to 6.5. Now looks like it is settled at seven points but I still like the underdog here.

Iowa hasn’t been an enticing team to back in recent years with their conservative style of play. However, I think things are different in Iowa City with C.J. Beathard at quarterback. The junior has thrown for 962 yards and six touchdowns. Running back Jordan Canzeri already has eight touchdowns.

Wisconsin was dominated by Alabama in the opener and then walked through a favorable a non-conference schedule of Miami (Ohio), Troy and Hawaii. Now Wisconsin steps up back up in class and have to do it without star running back Corey Clement, who is injured. Taiwan Deal and Dare Ogunbowale have filled in nicely for Clement but you can bet that Iowa will focus on stopping the Badgers running game.

That puts a lot of pressure on Joel Stave to make plays. Stave has shown improvement under new coach Paul Chryst, and has thrown for 830 yards and seven touchdowns this season. I still don’t trust Stave and think Beathard is the better quarterback.

At this spread, Iowa is a very strong best bet for this weekend. Usually you can throw the point spread out the window in a rivalry game like this. I think Iowa takes control of the Big Ten West with a win in Madison on Saturday but take the points just to be safe.

Pick: Iowa (+7)

Next: Arkansas at Tennessee