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Maryland (2-5) wasn’t too bad in the first game of the Mike Locksley interim era, but it still lost to Penn State. Can it come up with a stunner to screw up a red hot Iowa (7-0) team steamrolling to the Big Ten West title? Check out the Maryland vs. Iowa prediction and game preview.

Maryland vs. Iowa Game Preview

Broadcast

Date: Saturday, Oct. 31
Game Time: 3:30 pm
Venue: Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City, IA

Network: ABC/ESPN2

Follow, Contact @PeteFiutak 

Why You Need To Care

Maryland just couldn’t stop turning the ball over. It gave Penn State fits in the 31-30 loss, but it screwed up just a wee bit more than the Nittany Lions did, and now it’s uh-oh time. Not only do the Terps have to go to Iowa, but they follow it up with Wisconsin and a date at Michigan State. They need to come up with a key upset to keep their season alive.

Iowa is rolling with two weeks off after a dominant win at Northwestern, but the spotlight is on. Now the Hawkeyes are being talked about as a possible playoff contender, and now everyone will be gunning to take down the division’s top team. Fortunately for them, three of the next four games are at home, and they’re all easy with Minnesota and Purdue to follow with a road date at Indiana. With a nasty defense and a terrific rushing attack, it’s all working, but they can’t hiccup now.

Why Maryland Will Win

Is there any chance Perry Hills can do that again? Not the turnovers he had against Penn State – screwing up in a huge way with three picks and five in the last two games – but he was fantastic at giving the Nittany Lion defense fits. He ran for 170 yards against Ohio State and followed it up with 124 on the ground last week, and now Iowa has to try to deal with him. Yeah, the Hawkeyes had two weeks to prepare, and they’re third in the nation against the run, but they haven’t faced anyone like him.

Why Iowa Will Win

Oh yeah, the turnover margin. Maryland has been a total disaster when it comes to hanging on to the ball, giving it up 24 times on the year and three times or more in five of the last six games. The Terps have yet to win the turnover battle in any game, while Iowa hasn’t lost it since being a -1 in the opening weekend win over Illinois State. Maryland will be a -2 – at best – Iowa will capitalize on both giveaways, and that might be more than enough.

Player Who Matters

With Jordan Canzeri likely out after getting hurt against Northwestern, it’ll be the Akrum Wadley show again after a tremendous debut performance. He did a whole lot of nothing over the first six games with just 35 yards, he stepped in and against the Wildcats and turned into Ronnie Harmon, rushing for 204 yards and four scores in the dominant win. It helped that the O line took over, but Wadley did his part.

What’s Going To Happen?

Iowa is too sound, too tough, and too good. The train isn’t stopping now against a sloppy team like Maryland.

Maryland vs. Iowa Prediction

Final Score: Iowa 31, Maryland 17, Line: Iowa -17, o/u: 53.5

Must See Rating: 5: Jimi Hendrix: Electric Church – 1: The Peanuts Movie … 2.5