Badgers Literally Give Up Heartland Trophy in Loss to Iowa

[BuckySaunders]

Wisconsin has owned the last three matchups in the battle for the Heartland Trophy, but thanks to five total turnovers the big bull of a trophy is heading back to the Iowa Hawkeyes trophy case. Joel Stave threw two interceptions and the Badgers (3-2, 0-1 B1G) fumbled the football three times en route to a 10-6 loss to the Hawkeyes (5-0, 1-0 B1G).

No turnover was bigger than Stave’s final fumble though, as the Badgers were about to take advantage of a turnover forced inside Iowa territory down 10-6. With the ball at the two yard line, Stave was stepped on at the line and tried to get the hand off going, only to see the ball fall short and Iowa recovered.

The senior quarterback had a day to largely forget, going 21 of 38 passing for 234 yards. He couldn’t find the end zone and was responsible for four of the Badgers’ five total turnovers.

Stave did have his moments, but couldn’t put it all together when it counted. He missed on multiple fourth down opportunities, and the game ended with Stave off the mark to tight end Troy Fumagalli on a 4th-and-2 situation.

Iowa used an efficient run game and timely passing to execute its game plan to perfection. The Hawkeyes outgained Wisconsin 145 to 86 on the ground, and held the Badgers to just one red zone opportunity in the game.

Quarterback C.J. Beathard was a huge difference maker, especially on the lone touchdown drive of the game. He went just 9 of 21 passing for 77 yards, but was able to use his escapability around the goal line to execute a perfect bootleg and connected on a 2-yard touchdown pass to tight end George Kittle.

Defensively, Joe Schobert nearly kept his team in the game single handily. He ended the day like this:

Joe Schobert's day: 8 tackles, 4 tackles for loss, 2 forced fubmles, 1 fumble recover, 3 sacks and 5 QB hurries. Work for you? Works for us.

— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) October 3, 2015
​

With the Badgers needing a big play, Schobert got it done late in the fourth quarter. He beat Iowa’s left tackle off the edge, got the fumble and sack on Beathard and then as the ball scooted forward he made the recovery before it went out of bounds.

The recovery happened at the Iowa 27-yard line and six plays later the Badgers were at the 1-yard line. However, that’s when Stave fumbled with 7 minutes, 44 seconds to play. It proved to be costly, as Wisconsin never sniffed the end zone or red zone again in the contest.

Iowa running back Jordan Canzeri worked hard, pounding out 125 yards on 29 carries, becoming the first 100-yard rusher allowed by the Badgers since the opener against Alabama.

Wisconsin’s woes weren’t just on offense or against the Hawkeyes rushing attack, as kicker Rafael Gaglianone missed one of his three field goal attempts. He pushed his second field goal from 42 yards out, pushing it wide left, which put him at just 4 of 7 on the season.

The Badgers will look to regroup and refocus as they play at Nebraska for the Freedom Trophy next Saturday.

The post Badgers Literally Give Up Heartland Trophy in Loss to Iowa appeared first on Madtown Badgers.

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[Crossbuck]

Zero high level talent at WR or TE..

Worst OL in a long time.

Worst group of running backs in a long time with Clement out. Deal has no big play ability and while Ogunbowale has some wiggle, he's not a big play guy either. Losing Jordan Stevenson was a killer.

Stave is Stave. Some games he'll play pretty well, but there are also always games like these where he's horrible.

Wisconsin for years while being a clear run first team, they'd still score lots of points because they'd consistently break off long runs and play action off that. Now defenses have nothing to fear. No big play ability in the running game. No serious downfield threats in the passing game. An immobile QB with very erratic accuracy.

 

[57packer]

This is a different team than most Badger teams.

Mediocre running backs. Not normal for UW. If they had Clement, maybe yesterday doesn't happen, but right now they are not a normal UW group.

Young, middling OL. Haven't seen that at UW in the past decade. A better line and yesterday doesn't happen.

Weak WR group. They have always had a stud or two, but not the past 2 seasons, though Erickson is good.

Unfortunately, the above issues required a QB who would be better than usual because something had to make up for the above mediocrity. Stave is not that guy. He is the definition of average, and when it comes to "leadership" he might not even be average. I've got nothing against Stave, but he's not the guy to take hold of this team and lead it. His history is more of a guy who needs someone else to lead and help him succeed.

 

[Pugger]

Stave was making mistakes freshmen make. His throws were either early, late or a bounce pass. 57 is right, without Clement we needed competent QB play yesterday. I was hoping Chryst could do something with Stave but I guess not.

 

[FlaPack]

Stave was making mistakes freshmen make. His throws were either early, late or a bounce pass. 57 is right, without Clement we needed competent QB play yesterday. I was hoping Chryst could do something with Stave but I guess not.

Did you watch the first 4 games? Stave as fine. Night and day from last year

 

[FlaPack]

Ok the problem yesterday was more than Stave. Much. Much more.

And it starts with the lack of talent Anderson left. As mentioned ol is worst I can remember. WR is weak. How many drops did wheel right have? Play Calling at best was questionablE. Why a QB package for McEvoy? Lost a lot of faith in the offensive staff

 

[eyecatcher]

Stave stunk up the joint on Saturday but at the same time so did the rest of the team. I agree with packinatl, Stave has been very solid through 4 games and far better than I thought he could be. Every QB will have a bad week. Its when the QB is having that kind of week you need others to step up. Guys can't drop sure completions, the run game needed to be better, and the coaching staff needed to be better.

The defense was stout and Joe Schobert is a stud. Reminds me of JJ Watt in the way he gets to the ball.

 

[57packer]

Agree it was more than just Stave. Again, a typical UW running game would likely have made up the difference. However, if you've watched Stave closely, it seems like regression has been occurring since the Alabama game. Against Hawaii lst week, if you look at his passes, things were going off track again. Passes sailing high, low and wide, and some poorly timed throws. Saturday was a continuation of that regression.

I also get the desire to blame GA. I have no love for the guy, BUT, he was here 2 years. His recruits are freshman and RS freshman right now. This team should not be depending on them. In actuality, almost all the starters and contributors right now are BB recruits. To GA's credit he actually has 3 of his recruits manning the o-line right now. IF BB had done a better job and there had been fewer injuries, the GA o-linemen should not even be part of the mix since it should be sophmores, juniors and seniors manning the trenches.

Wheelright was a BB recruit as well. That part though GA does share some blame on. BB left the WR cupboad nearly bare, and the GA recruits at the position have done very little. Again though, they are all freshman and RS freshman.

Where you can blame GA more is the lack of development of Stave and the WRs he inherited. It seems the previous staff simply did not move those 2 posiitons forward much, if at all, in terms of developing the talent they already had.

Also agree somewhat on playcalling. Was hoping Chryst would bring more to the table. Still, given the lack of WRs, and trouble we have running the ball and some of the difficulties Stave is having, it's hard to open the playbook or to find something you can hang your hat on. As for the use of McEvoy, that has happened in each game prior to Iowa. It's mostly been fairly successful. It's hard to think those 2-3 plays were the "difference" on Saturday. McEvoy is a weapon with the ball in his hands. I actually commend the offensive staff for using him that way in a limited capacity. It's not been enough to be a distraction, and has mostly resulted in positive plays in it's limited use this season.