Iowa vs. Missouri Prediction, Odds and Key Players for Music City Bowl

Missouri and Iowa meet in the Music City Bowl, the standalone game on December 30th bowl coverage. 

Both teams ended their respective regular season with rivalry game victories in the final moments and will look for a bowl win to build momentum towards the future. In a closely lined spread, and some key players opting out, how should we bet this one? 

We have you covered with our Music City Bowl betting preview below!

Spread

Moneyline

Total: 40.5 (Over -110/Under -110)

Odds courtesy of FanDuel Sportsbook

Missouri

Brady Cook: This will be Cook’s final game with the Tigers after he returned from a mid-season injury to lead the Tigers to late-season wins against the likes of Arkansas in the team’s regular-season finale. While it wasn’t as productive as the year prior, Cook put up solid numbers this season for Mizzou, passing for 2,248 yards with 14 total touchdowns and only two interceptions. 

Iowa 

Brendan Sullivan: The hope is that Sullivan is back from injury for this one, the team’s primary backup that showed some upside in the Hawkeyes offense in wins against Northwestern and Wisconsin. Overall, this is a run-first Iowa offense that will be without star running back Kaleb Johnson, putting more pressure on Sullivan as a runner and to create with his arm. He completed more than 68% of his passes in a limited sample this season (35 passes). 

There are two notable players out in this game with NFL upside, one for each team. 

For Missouri, Luther Burden opted out of this game to prepare for the NFL Draft, which is a blow to the Tigers’ offense, but not as impactful as Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson, who was sixth in the country in rushing yards this season. 

Johnson was a big part of the Hawkeyes offense that was 93rd in the country in EPA/Pass and 85th in overall success rate. Without the threat of the standout running back on the field, Iowa will rely solely on its defense to stay competitive in this game. 

With that in mind, I’ll lay it with the small favorite in Missouri. 

While the Tigers fell short of lofty goals set by a strong 2023, the team still has a versatile offense that includes a sturdy run game and a consistent unit that ranked top 50 in success rate. Further, the team can keep up with Iowa in the battle for field position as it ranks top 10 in havoc allowed and is 11th in Pro Football Focus’ special teams grade. 

I question how Iowa puts up many points on the board in this one and while the under looks like a worthwhile bet, I’d rather side with the Tigers to win this game by more than a field goal. 

PICK: Missouri -3

Game odds refresh periodically and are subject to change.

Follow Reed on Twitter @ReedWallach and get all his college football bets on betstamp @rw33

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