Iowa bar has beer promotion for Big Ten championship: Free drinks till Hawkeyes score

A Cedar Rapids bar is putting more faith in the Iowa offense than the majority of college football this season.

X-Golf, an indoor golf simulation bar, is rolling out a promotion that is as Big Ten as it gets: free beer from kickoff of the Big Ten Championship until Iowa scores against Michigan. That score can, for what it’s worth, come from the offense or defense. X-Golf can swing it, probably, but it’s an interesting marketing tactic for the 124th-ranked offense in the country.

The last time Michigan (12-0, 9-0 Big Ten) played Iowa in a Big Ten championship game, it took until 1:26 left in the first quarter for Iowa to put points on the board with a Caleb Shudak field goal. Iowa, which lost that game 42-3, is hoping for earlier success this season.

The over/under for Michigan-Iowa this week is 35.5, with Michigan entering as 21.5-point favorites per BetMGM. The 10-2 Hawkeyes (7-2 in Big Ten) are looking to control the pace of the game and pull off a tremendous upset.

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X-Golf co-owner Bryant Nicholson said this isn’t the first time the promotion has been run, but it’s now getting attention due to the status of the game.

“One of the owners thought of this to get people in during Hawkeye games,” Nicholson said, per Jack Lido of KCRG. “We’ve done it the past few weeks! We’re not nervous at all and confident in our Hawkeyes! Hawks by a million! (Ends if the defense scores too!)”

Iowa had several record-breakingly-low over/unders this season, and has scored 20-plus points just once since Oct. 14 (22-0 over Rutgers on Nov. 11).

Ultimately, X-Golf needs Iowa to score early, not often. If not, it could be a long night for some fans in Cedar Rapids. One other important thing to note: The promotion does specify it only runs until the end of the game. So there will not be beer served for free throughout December, until a bowl game — sorry, loophole seekers.