No. 5 Ohio State (85%) travels to Kinnick Stadium to face No. 14 Iowa (15%) in one of Week 5's marquee matchups.
With the added attention of a ranked-on-ranked game, my Ohio State vs. Iowa prop picks have sifted through the plentitude of props available.
See my three favorite player props and college football picks for Saturday, Oct. 3.
Best Ohio State vs Iowa props
Prop pick #1: DJ Vonnahme Over 28.5 receiving yards
DJ Vonnahme is next up at Tight End U, so this receiving line is disrespecting his talents a bit.
He's off to a "slow" start to the season, but that's more injury-related than anything. He returned to the field last week against Michigan and caught four passes for 44 yards. Expecting that to be at least his season-long average moving forward is more than reasonable.
Going into the year, Vonnahme led all returning tight ends in yards per route run (3.10). He's averaging 60.1 receiving yards across his last eight games, so take the steep discount on this number.
Prop pick #2: Ja'Kobi Jackson Over 35.5 rushing yards
Bo Jackson is still Ohio State's RB1, but the gap between him and Ja'Kobi Jackson has narrowed. Ja'Kobi has handled 18 carries in the Buckeyes' last two games, narrowly below Bo's 22.
The Florida transfer has been effective with his touches as well, averaging 51.5 rushing yards per game. He has a robust 87.7 rushing grade per PFF, averaging 5.58 yards after contact per attempt and forcing 14 missed tackles.
The opportunity and talent are there for Ja'Kobi to have yet another productive day on the ground. The market is overrating Bo since he's the household name, but Ja'Kobi has had the better analytics thus far and is firmly entrenched in a valuable role.
Prop pick #3: Kamari Moulton Over 13.5 rushing attempts
Iowa will need to establish the run to control the ball, the clock, and this game. The Hawkeyes can't compete score-for-score with Ohio State and Jeremiah Smith if this game turns into a shootout, and the coaching staff knows it.
That'll mean a healthy dose of Kamari Moulton. Iowa's RB1 had just 13 carries a week ago, but it was encouraging that none of his backups saw more than four totes.
LJ Phillips Jr. was brought in from the FCS level after rushing for nearly 2,000 yards a season ago. He seemed like the main competition for touches heading into the year, but has been banged up and has yet to receive a touch since the opener.
Moulton's locked in as the starter and has little competition for touches, so he should get a healthy amount of work against an underperforming Ohio State run defense (120th in rushing success rate allowed).
- Prop picks: 17-10, +7.2 units
Odds are correct at the time of publishing and are subject to change.
Not intended for use in MA.
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