10 Things to know about Wisconsin Badgers vs. Iowa Hawkeyes

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There are few games bigger in the Big Ten West division, literally and figuratively, than the Iowa Hawkeyes and Wisconsin Badgers. Simply put, it seems as if the division winner goes through winning that game. With Iowa coming off a monumental upset of Ohio State last weekend and the Badgers sitting 9-0 on the season, once again this game has plenty of meaning. Not only is the Heartland Trophy on...

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This may deserve its own thread in a day or two, but the Badgers will be without WR Jazz Peavy for the rest of the year, as he's abruptly left the program.
 
The Badgers are favored to beat Iowa. They deserve to be favored. The problem is, Iowa doesn't seem to believe they're supposed to roll over for the big dogs in the conference. Ohio State found that out last Saturday. They got their butts kicked badly. It showed that there is a lot of talent on this Iowa football team, and when they're ready, and the game plan is good, they can take people out.

My biggest questions regarding this game isn't how well Iowa plays. It's how prepared, and the minds of the Badger players. How they approach this game, and how the coaches utilize their whole tool belt of options is what's going to matter. Iowa is going to be tough, and if the Badgers players and coaches let up for just a moment, Iowa will do the same thing to them that they did to OSU last week.

The Badgers cannot, and must not, start out in a 10-0 hole. Iowa is too stingy on defense to allow the Badgers to overcome a two score lead. The Badgers need to knock the wind out of Iowa's sails before the game hardly starts. Score first, and make it look easy, then make a quick stop, and score again. If that happens, the Badgers will cruise, until late in the game, when Iowa will mount an attempted comeback.

I'm burning incense, and dancing around my Joe Boo statue. This could be a trap game for the Badgers.

Badgers 20 Iowa 17
 
Iowa is tough against the run, and they have a solid pass rush. They pressured Barrett into 4 INTs, and actually out passed, and out ran the Buckeyes. On offense, Wadley & Butler can run the football, and Stanley is a good enough QB that he can make you hurt, if you don't respect his passing ability.

I honestly do believe the counter is what will make the difference in this game. I'm glad you mentioned it. If we get our counters working, they'll be forced to spread their defense wider, and we could scorch them between tackles.

It's going to come down to preparedness. Which team is better prepared to exploit weaknesses.

Still believe Wisconsin wins a close one.
 
TW said:
If we get our counters working, they'll be forced to spread their defense wider, and we could scorch them between tackles.
Click to expand...

My favorite memories from the Tolzien-era Badgers is all those pulling linemen. You know you're good when you can run counters and sweeps and the players pulling are your center and tackle, and backside TE. It's a thing of beauty.
 
I know people love the long pass. Probably their favorite. But, to me, there are two plays that I like most. The Badgers counters, and the old Green Bay Packer sweep. Those plays are like a ballet of big man, each having a choreographed script of exactly what they need to do to make the play work. When you watch them develop, and see runners bite off chunks of yardage, it's watching something special. To do either, it takes repetitive work in practice, day after day, to insure each player knows exactly what their responsibility is, because one little mistake can lead to holding, a block in the back, or even the RB being tackled for a loss.

But, when these two work, they can be the bread and butter for an offense, and the pass becomes something that can be used more effectively and efficiently to move a team down the field.

I'll always see the 5 to 10 yard gain on those two plays as exciting as the 25 yard pass. Sorry! I think the game that's played with the core of the concept of the early game is exciting. Back to those ballerinas.... tc(
 
Badgers can't turn the ball over and need to not play from behind to win. My biggest concern is a very young WR corp today. Come out and hit Iowa in the mouth early and often.
 
Well the Badgers didn't follow any of our instructions. 4 (or was it 5) turnovers. Got behind again early and started slowly, but it all did not make a difference. The defense was playing out of its mind.

Hornibrook was Iowa's best offense. He just has to stop throwing those passes to the boundary late. He's had more picks on that type of pass than any other as I recall. He just needs to realize that he does not have the arm for that. When you throw that pass late, the defender is in much better physical position to make a play on it. When you do make that throw, it needs to be low and outside not high, and certainly not inside. Oh well, have to keep hoping for growth from him. They were able to overcome against Iowa, not so sure against Michigan next week, or OSU in the championship game.

Jonathan Taylor needs to work on ball security. Teams have seen it now, they are going to work on getting the football out. He's too prone to letting the ball get away from his body in situations where he's still in traffic. He started the season well in terms of ball security, but has been giving it away too much lately.

Beyond that, there is almost nothing to criticize. The OL has been a little hot and cold at times. You'd like to see them be a little more consistent from start to finish. Also again a handful of dumb penalties. But man they dominated the Hawkeyes in all phases of the game. It's hard to believe this was the same Iowa team that dominated OSU the week before and put up about 500yds of offense. Against UW they get less than 100. As one sided a win as there has been in this series in probably 20 years.
 
The only blight on Wisconsin's defensive performance is that they were outscored by Iowa's defense 7-14, other than that, a masterful performance.

It also helps that Iowa emptied out the tank against OSU, the QB only completed a handful of passes, and I'm not sure but I think he finished the game with more throw aways than completions.
 
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