The Big Ten Championship returns to the home of the Indianapolis Colts as the Michigan Wolverines take on the Iowa Hawkeyes. It will be easy for Michigan to look ahead to the College Football Playoff as they take on Iowa as 21.5-point favorites. Iowa has struggled to score, creating a big storyline heading into the Big Ten Championship game. Michigan is coming off their third-straight win over rival Ohio State. It would take a minor miracle for Iowa to steal the Big Ten Championship from their hands and alter the course of the College Football Playoff. Michigan's goal for this weekend is to escape Indianapolis without any injuries and get ready for a National semifinal matchup on New Year's Day.
When and where is the Big Ten Championship game?
Michigan and Iowa will play in Indianapolis at the home of the Indianapolis Colts. The Big Ten Championship is at Lucas Oil Stadium in Indianapolis, Indiana. Kickoff for the game on Saturday, Dec. 2, is at 8 p.m. ET.
How to watch Michigan vs. Iowa Big Ten Championship
FOX will be broadcasting the Big Ten Championship. You can also watch the Michigan vs. Iowa game with fuboTV.
Date: Saturday, Dec. 2 | Time: 8 p.m. ET
Location: Lucas Oil Stadium — Indianapolis, Indiana
TV channel: FOX | Live stream: fuboTV (click for a free trial)
Odds: Michigan -21.5 | O/U 34.5
Michigan storylines
Michigan is coming off their third consecutive victory over arch-rival Ohio State. The Wolverines will get head coach Jim Harbaugh back on the sidelines after he served his three-game, conference-imposed suspension related to a sign-stealing scandal. The win over Ohio State was important for Michigan on so many levels. They avenged the suspension of their head coach, as interim coach Sherrone Moore shown in his post-game interviews. They avenged everyone, especially Ohio State fans, who said their last two successful seasons were only due to the cheating. Michigan ran over their opponents since the scandal came to light, and they show no signs of slowing down.
These schools faced each other two seasons ago in the Big Ten Championship game. Michigan dominated the Iowa Hawkeyes 42-3, before getting dominated in the College Football Playoff semifinal by Georgia. Michigan is in a position this year where they will get a lower-ranked team in the semifinal and will be No.1 if Alabama upsets Georgia in the SEC Championship. Blake Corum had 74 yards and a touchdown on five carries in the matchup two seasons ago, as Michigan ran away with the game so quickly that they rested their starters. There's a good chance that will be the case again this season, which will be welcome for Corum who missed the postseason last year with a knee injury. Corum had an FBS-high 22 rushing touchdowns this season.
J.J. McCarthy put himself on the map to be an NFL Draft pick this season after a successful year at Michigan. McCarthy had 2483 passing yards with 19 touchdowns and four interceptions. Another Big Ten championship and a run at the National Championship will help McCarthy's draft stock soar to a level where he could be one of the top quarterbacks taken off the board after Caleb Williams and Drake Maye.
Iowa storylines
It's never a good sign when the major storyline heading into a conference championship game is whether a team will cover their first-half team total. Iowa's line is currently set at 0.5, and the over-under in Hawkeyes games has been bad this season. You may ask, how is a team in the Big Ten Championship game with people predicting that they won't score a point in the first half? Well, their defense is elite, and they did enough to beat a weak Big Ten West. Michigan had to take on Ohio State, Penn State, Maryland, and Rutgers. Those five teams were all over .500 and bowl-eligible. The Big Ten West had Iowa, Northwestern, and Wisconsin over .500, and the latter two teams benefitted from playing the rest of the Big Ten West.
The fact is, any team out of the Big Ten West would have been significant, underdogs in this matchup. Iowa's offense gets the unfortunate fate of being the brunt of the joke during this Conference Championship week.
Iowa's defense carried them to a 10-2 record, boasting one of the best units in the country. They have given up more than 20 points just once this season. Since losing their second game of the season to Minnesota, Iowa has given up just 30 points over their last four games in wins over Northwestern, Rutgers, Illinois, and Nebraska. Iowa's defense has been impressive but none of their opponents in the Big Ten West are offensive juggernauts. It's more likely that this game will play out closer to the Penn State beatdown in September. Even if Iowa slows down Michigan's offense, will Iowa score any points?
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