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Illinois is 1-7 against Iowa since October of 2015 but they'll have a chance to close the gap a little bit on Saturday. The Illinois Fighting Illini will head out on the road to face off against the Iowa Hawkeyes at 3:30 p.m. ET at Kinnick Stadium. Both teams come into the game bolstered by wins in their previous matches.
Even though Indiana scored an imposing 45 points on Saturday, Illinois still came out on top. Illinois narrowly escaped with a win as the team sidled past Indiana 48-45. The victory made it back-to-back wins for Illinois.
Illinois got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was John Paddock out in front who threw for 507 yards and four touchdowns while picking up 14.1 yards per attempt. Another player making a difference was Isaiah Williams, who picked up 200 receiving yards and two touchdowns.
One of those touchdowns was the difference in the game. Illinois was down by three with only zero seconds left when they drove 25 yards for the winning score. Paddock hit Williams from 21 yards out and that was all she wrote.
Special teams played a big role in the game for Illinois, adding 12 points to the final score. All those points came courtesy of Caleb Griffin: he added nine points with three field goals, and another three kicking extra points.
Meanwhile, the defenses reigned supreme when Iowa and Rutgers played on Saturday, rewarding bettors who took the risk on the low 27.5-point over/under. Iowa didn't even let Rutgers onto the board and left with a 22-0 victory. The oddsmakers were on Iowa's side, but they didn't give the squad enough credit as the margin was unexpectedly wide.
The victory got Illinois back to even at 5-5. As for Iowa, they are on a roll lately: they've won five of their last six matches, which provided a nice bump to their 8-2 record this season.
Illinois is hoping to beat the odds on Saturday, as the experts think they're headed for a loss. For those looking to play the spread, careful betting on Illinois: they have a less-than-stellar 2-8 record against the spread this season.
Illinois came out on top in a nail-biter against Iowa in their previous matchup back in October of 2022, sneaking past 9-6. The rematch might be a little tougher for Illinois since the team won't have the home-field advantage this time around. We'll see if the change in venue makes a difference.
