As the second half was underway, both team’s defenses continued to step up.
Advertisement
The Iowa Hawkeyes are 5-0, and that means the Big Ten is in the midst of a few interesting upcoming games to decide the participants in the conference championship game.
But one of many similarities between these two programs is the ability to stop the run.
The Badgers won the toss and elected to receive. Kirk Ferentz’s team was able to force four turnovers and shut down the Badgers’ offense throughout the game Saturday.
It started when King intercepted Stave’s pass and took the ball 15 yards to Wisconsin’s 31-yard line. The junior completed 9 of 21 passes for 77 yards and a touchdown. Film would suggest another run to setup a third and short situation for Stave.
But Stave tripped and dropped the ball while falling.
Iowa made a decision to stick to the strategy that has worked for them all season. On 4th and 2, C.J. Beathard’s pass was incomplete.
When second and eight or more, the Hawkeyes pass 80% of the time, and they pretty much stuck to this formula the entire game.
On the next series – on second-and-goal from the Iowa 1-yard line, Stave botched a snap on a handoff to running back Taiwan Deal, who couldn’t fall on the ball, as Iowa defensive end Faith Ekakitie scooped it up.
The Badgers (3-2, 0-1) lost despite allowing 221 total yards, including 69 in the second half.
The Badgers didn’t have any luck reaching the end zone; Something very different from previous weeks. His leg seemed to be on point, going 2/3 with all attempts from 42 yards or more. That was the first touchdown allowed by the Badgers’ defense since the fourth quarter of the Alabama game on September 5 – a span of 215 minutes, three seconds. For a moment, it looked as though their luck had changed when Beathard fumbled the ball when scrambling to avoid a rush. The Badgers’ worst field position during that time was its own 31, and four of its last five drives started from at least its own 41-yard line.
Schobert finished with 3½ tackles for loss, three sacks, two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery and five quarterback hurries.
The Badgers were unable to put anymore points on the board but were miraculously still in it late in the fourth quarter. The Iowa Hawkeyes pulled off an upset of the No. 19 Badgers in Madison, winning the Heartland Trophy for the first time since 2009.
The Iowa Hawkeyes traveled to Wisconsin on Saturday to face off against the Wisconsin Badgers at Camp Randall Stadium.
“Obviously, the number one thing, the number one goal the team has is to win”.
Iowa took advantage of two costly Wisconsin turnovers in the second quarter to take a 10-3 lead into halftime.
Advertisement
On Iowa’s first offensive play, Canzeri was drilled for a two-yard loss.
