Outback Bowl: Iowa vs. Mississippi State Fearless Prediction, Game Preview
Outback Bowl: Iowa vs. Mississippi State fearless prediction and game preview.
Broadcast
Date: Tuesday, January 1st
Game Time: 12:00 ET
Venue: Raymond James Stadium, Tampa, FL
Network: ESPN2
– All of the CFN Fearless Predictions
– Get Tickets For This Game
Iowa (8-4) vs. Mississippi State (8-4) Game Preview
Why Iowa Will Win | Why MSU Will Win
Players To Watch | 3 Honest Thoughts, Prediction
Outback Bowl History, Results
Three Reasons Why You Should Watch The Outback Bowl
– It’s the first college football game of 2019 and the start of a massive day of games. It’s just outside of the Group of Five bowl games, but the average fan won’t notice or care – it’s a college football game on New Year’s Day between two brand name teams from the two biggest conferences.
The world might be more interested in LSU and UCF, in the Fiesta, and Kentucky vs. Penn State in the Citrus are bigger and better matchups, but they start up an hour later. It’s up to the Hawkeyes and Bulldogs to be interesting right away.
– Iowa was really, really close to a massive season. It came up with a win over Iowa State, but it missed Ohio State and Michigan – the schedule just wasn’t that bad. However, it lost to Wisconsin 28-17 – with the score looking worse than the game thanks to a late Badger oh-by-the-way touchdown – and it had a stretch of three straight losses.
All three to Penn State, Purdue and Northwestern were by six points or fewer and a total of 12 points. Beating Mississippi State would be the signature moment. It would prove that the Hawkeyes really were that good.
– Last year’s Mississippi State team went 9-4. This year’s team can do that, too, with a win, showing off a seamless transition from the Dan Mullen era to Joe Moorhead.
The offense was solid, but it was the defense that defined the season. The Bulldogs lost at Kentucky, at home to Florida, at LSU, and to Alabama – try finding an 8-4 team with four more acceptable losses.
However, Mullen went 5-2 in bowls at MSU, winning three of his last four. Moorhead was great in his first season, but this is a game he should be able to pull off.
