Vegas says Wisconsin, Iowa 1-2 in Big Ten West

The date is Oct. 30. The sport is college football. The game is Iowa at Wisconsin.

Will that be for the Big Ten West championship? Well, not with four games still to follow. However, it could be the difference in a lot of wagers placed at South Point, a Las Vegas casino/hotel that has a sportsbook that caters to college football bettors.

Not only does South Point post lines of college football games months before they’re played, it has over/under numbers for the win totals of college football teams. It even has broken them down to conference wins.

Here are its numbers for the Big Ten, which has a nine-game league season:

West Division

Wisconsin 7.5

Iowa 6.5

Minnesota 5

Nebraska 4.5

Northwestern 4

Purdue 3.5

Illinois 2.5

East Division

Ohio State 8

Indiana 6

Michigan 6

Penn State 6

Maryland 2.5

Michigan State 2

Rutgers 2

Thoughts: The inter-division schedules of Wisconsin and Iowa favor neither. The Badgers have Penn State and Michigan at home, Rutgers on the road. The Hawkeyes have Indiana and Penn State at home, Maryland on the road.

Week 1 will tell a lot. Penn State is at Wisconsin, Indiana is at Iowa. If the Badgers and Hawkeyes win their openers, it isn’t hard to visualize them both being 4-0 when the clash in Madison. Both would have serious challenges along the way, but would seem to be favored in each subsequent league game before meeting each other.

If the South Point numbers hold, Iowa State will meet Oklahoma in the Big 12 title game for the second-straight year. That league also has a nine-game conference season. The over/unders:

Oklahoma 8

Iowa State 7

Oklahoma State 5.5

TCU 5.5

West Virginia 5.5

Texas 4.5

Baylor 3.5

Kansas State 3

Texas Tech 2.5

Kansas 1

Thoughts: Iowa State doesn’t play Oklahoma until Nov. 20 — its next-to-last game — at Norman. Then it closes at home against TCU the following Friday.

Whether the Cyclones are something special or something other than that will be proven in a three-week stretch when they play Oklahoma State and Texas at home, sandwiched by a trip to West Virginia.

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com