Things You May Not Have Known About Iowa Hawkeyes Football: Installment IV -- Iowa the 5th-best college team to bet over last 10 years

This is yet another post-written-before-I-left-for-vacation post to keep the Hlog from fading away. It's like leaving food and water for your cat while you go away for a while.

Except that I don't have a cat. If you do, make sure you leave food and water for it when you're gone.

Now then ... if you had wagered the same amount of money on the Iowa football team in Nevada sports books for every Hawkeyes game from 2001 to 2010, you made money.

That's assuming you didn't burn your winnings on something else, or that you didn't burn a lot of money getting to and from Nevada to make those bets.

Out of the 120 FBS teams, Iowa was the 5th-best to bet on from 2001 through 2010. The Hawkeyes' record against the Nevada point spreads in that time is a shiny 70-49-3.The casinos charge you 10 percent to make such bets, which you get back if you win. Which means if you bet $110 and win, you get back $210. You get your money back on a tie (a "push" in betting lingo).

That said, let's say you bet $100 on Iowa in every game with a posted pointspread from '01 through '10. You would have put up $13,420 and gotten back $15,030 for a profit of $1,610.

I don't know what $13,420 would have netted you had it spent 10 years in a money market, but I know that's not as fun as betting on 122 football games.

Had you bet $110 per game in those 10 years on these teams, here's how you would have fared:

1. Boise State  76-46-2  +$2,540

2. Ohio State  75-49-2  +$2,110

3. Connecticut  68-43-2  +$2,070

4. Utah  71-49-2  +$1,710

5. Iowa  70-49-3  +$1,610

You would have made money on only one other current Big Ten team over that period, even though three other Big Ten teams had winning records against the spread in that time. It's the 10 percent vig, you know.

The rest of the Big Ten:

Wisconsin  65-56-2   +340

Penn State  62-58-1   -$180

Nebraska  64-61-1   -$310

Minnesota  58-59   -$690

Purdue  55-60-5    -$1,100

Northwestern  56-61-2   -$1,110

Illinois  53-61   -$1,410

Michigan  53-67-3   -$2,070

Michigan State  51-67-5   -$2,270

Indiana  46-64-1   -$2,440

Others (I've done quite enough math, so no more figuring the money)

Virginia Tech  74-52-2

Alabama  61-61-4

Texas  64-61-3

Oklahoma  68-61-4

Florida  68-55-2

Oregon  71-51-1

Notre Dame  57-63-3

Iowa State  56-57-1

Miami (Fla.)  52-70