Iowa vs. Illinois State odds: Early point spread released on Hawkeyes, Redbirds

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Iowa’s opener received a stunning twist less than a week out from kickoff. However, the Hawkeyes are still a sizable favorite over their first opponent of the season in Illinois State.

Per FanDuel, Iowa, the No. 25 team in the nation, is a 23.5-point favorite (-115) over the Redbirds on Saturday. The over-under for the game between them is set at 41.5 points.

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How to watch Illinois State vs. Iowa

Time: 12:00 p.m. EST
Channel: Big Ten Network
Location: Kinnick Stadium (Iowa City, Iowa)

Iowa and Illinois State will be the opening game of the weekend on the Big Ten Network. Purdue, Indiana, Northwestern, Oregon, and Washington will be on the channel throughout the day as well.

More on Illinois State vs. Iowa

The only other meeting for this pair came back in the opener back nine years ago 2015. Iowa won 31-14 behind 341 yards of offense in a balanced attack by QB CJ Beathard and RB LeShun Daniels Jr..

Again, though, this game is going to be more different than anyone was expecting a week ago with the suspension of the Hawkeyes’ head coach in Kirk Ferentz. He along with one of his assistants in Jon Budmayr will serve the one-game punishment this weekend. It will be the first time in his tenure of over a quarter century that he won’t be on the sidelines for Iowa with Seth Wallace set to be their interim against Illinois State.

Beyond that, Iowa once again looks to be among the top teams in the Big Ten.

The Hawkeyes return most of their roster from 2023 that went 10-4 and played in the Big Ten Championship. There was still quite the difference between their two sides of the ball with their defense finishing fourth in the country by allowing only 14.8 points but their offense finished second from last nationally by scoring just 15.4 ppg..

Still, with much of the defense back and a new offensive coordinator, Iowa wants to be one of the teams in the mix for the College Football Playoff.

As for Illinois State, they enter their 15th season this fall under Brock Spack. He has become the school’s all-time winningest coach in that span with an overall record of 95-65 (.593). That includes their 6-5 finish from 2023.

This game will be unlike any other in this century for Iowa if for no other reason than Ferentz not being present for it. Still, the Hawkeyes plan to be alright without him in this opener against the Redbirds as they remain over 20-point favorites in Vegas.