Place Your Bets: Indiana Expected To Destroy Howard

Indiana beat up on North Texas pretty bad in Week 1 winning the game 52-16. The spread for that game was 40.5, so technically North Texas covered. Winning by 36 is certainly a blowout, but the gap wasn't as big as the experts thought it would be. 

This weekend, the experts have set the bar even higher.

The Bison are currently 1-1 after beating Alabama A&M and losing to Richmond, yet still the Hoosiers are now favored by a whopping 56.5 points over them. After this weekend, barring an absolute miracle, Howard will be 1-2, but how exactly will it look? Here are three bets to consider when watching IU host the Bison.

Curt Cignetti shows now mercy when facing lesser opponents and I expect he and his Hoosiers to start fast against Howard. Indiana showed that they are exceptional in the return game against North Texas, which gave them short fields and short drives on multiple occasions. I wouldn't be surprised if the same thing happened against Howard, allowing the Hoosiers to outpace the Bison by at least 15 points in the first quarter.

I do think Indiana is going to dominate Howard in this game, but winning by 57 points is so difficult to do no matter who the opponent is. Howard scored 31 and 21 points in its first two games respectively, which shows that they do have some semblance of an offense.

Quarterback Ja'Shawn Scroggins is dangerous as a passer and as a runner, so there's a chance he gets loose at some point, and there are a few good running backs on the roster as well. 

I don't see Howard finding the end zone much at all, but winning by 57 is not easy. Even if Indiana gets up by 40-45, expect Curt Cignetti to get some backups into the game, which could cause the offense to sputter. Indiana will win by a lot, but not enough to cover.

If I don't think Indiana is going to cover that massive spread, it's going to be hard to get to at least 66 total points. It's going to be very tough for Howard to score all day against IU's stout defense, which means the brunt of scoring would fall on Indiana to reach that total. 

Indiana did eclipse 60 points twice last year, including once against Big Ten opponent Illinois, but it's not an easy thing to do. They were in the ballpark against Kennesaw State scoring 56 and exploded for 73 against Indiana State. With performances like that, it's certainly possible that they score enough on Saturday to put toward and beyond that 65.5-point total, but I think the safe bet is the under.