Saturday Afternoon at Camp Randall Stadium was a good old fashioned defensive battle. Iowa found a way to move to 5-0 with a 10-6 victory over 19th ranked Wisconsin. This was a crazy game both defenses were dominant. So how did Iowa get the victory on Saturday?
The Iowa offense definitely had it's struggles vs the Wisconsin defense. CJ Beathard had his worst game as the starting quarterback going just 9-21 for 77 yards 1 TD 1 Interception and one fumble. Jordan Canzeri and the Iowa offensive line made the difference Saturday. Everyone thought going into this game the team that ran the ball the best and stopped the run would win. That is exactly what happened Iowa ran for 144 yards with 125 coming from Canzeri. Wisconsin put points on the board first taking an early 3 to 0 lead. Iowa put together a very nice drive going 10 plays to take the ball to the Wisconsin 8 yard line. The Hawkeyes were facing 3rd and 2 they tried to run Leshun Daniels who was stopped for no gain. Most the time over the years Iowa kicks a field goal ties the game at 3. The Hawks gambled going for it on 4th and 2. Krieger Coble ran an out and up where it appeared that Kaputo might have got a way with a hold but either way I liked the early gamble.
The next drive after Wisconsin missed a field goal the Hawkeyes put together another nice drive taking the ball from their own 24 all the way to the Wisconsin 9 yard line. Beathard missed Jerminic Smith for what could have been a touchdown on a fade rout. Smith beat his defender but CJ just overthrew him. So on 4th and 7 Iowa settled for a field goal but Koehn missed from 27 yards out and Wisconsin maintained a 3 to 0 lead. The game changed this drive as the defense came up big. On second and 7 Desmond King intercepted Joel Stave setting the Hawkeyes up with 1st and 10 at the Wisconsin 31. The first play Canzeri ran for 19 yards down to the Wisconsin 12. Later in the drive on 3rd and 1 Beathard ran a QB sneak to get the first down. 1st and goal from the 1 Iowa ran a play action pass bringing Kittle in motion then rolling him across the formation where Beathard hit him for a 1 yard score.
The very next offensive play Wisconsin had, Drew Ott came around the right side forcing a fumble that Nate Meier recovered. Now personally I would have loved to see Iowa take a shot after the quick change but they were running the ball well so I can see either way. On 3rd and 4 CJ Beathard made a mental mistake getting called for delay game which turned 3rd and 4 into 3rd and 9. Iowa had to settle for a field goal which Koehn made to put them up 10 to 3. Wisconsin was content to try and take it to half but Iowa showed aggressiveness calling timeout to get the ball back. Beathard was sacked on the final play of the 1st half
The Badgers were playing a lot of man to man defense which made it difficult for the receivers to get much space. There were two big plays in the 3rd quarter that could have helped the Iowa offense put some more points on the board. On 3rd and 7 Beathard had his receiver Krieger Coble coming open over the middle of the field but he was hit as he threw it the ball floated and was intercepted. With all the man defense Wisconsin was playing I felt the Hawks could have taken a few more shots down the field. The other big play happened on another 3rd down as Jerminic Smith had a step on the defense but Beathard over shot him. If Iowa was able to hit those two plays they likely score some more points but the Badgers defense was tough. Joe Schobert was all over Beathard almost every time he dropped back to pass.
Iowa caught a major break after Beathard was a little bit loose with the ball rolling out. He was hit from behind and fumbled setting up what looked like Wisconsin's go ahead touchdown. Wisconsin had it 2nd and goal from the one yard line. The Right guard for Wisconsin stepped on Stave's foot and he fumbled trying to hand it off. Besides the step Nate Meier completely blew up play destroying the running back. Faith Ekakite came up with the Fumble recovery. The offense could have put the game away but immediately went 3 and out. On 4th and 2 with 44 seconds left Wisconsin had the ball at the Iowa 16 yard line. Cole Fisher made the biggest play of the game getting a good bump on the Wisconsin Tight end throwing off the timing between Stave and his receiver. The pass fell incomplete and the Hawkeyes moved to 5-0.
The defense came up big time and time again Saturday afternoon. Desmond King proved why he's the best corner back in the Big Ten intercepting two passes. Drew Ott is back to 100 percent or at least darn close he was an animal. He forced a Fumble and had some big tackles for loss. Nate Meier came up big perfectly defending a shovel pass, recovering a fumble and just putting pressure on Stave. This defensive line is showing the potential I thought they had. At times they were dominant against a huge Wisconsin Offensive line. Is there a better pair of tacklers at corner back in college football? I mean how many times have we seen Desmond King and Greg Maybin make big hits on the perimeter? It's also crazy how much of a difference a year makes for this linebacking core. All 3 of them are flying around the field making plays. Ben Niemann made a big tackle for loss after Wisconsin had a good drive going. Josey Jewell was all over the field. Cole Fisher made the biggest play of the game breaking up the final pass to seal the victory. He also had a sack and a big hit that forced Stave to throw high missing his receiver. Iowa held Wisconsin to just 86 yards on 34 carries an average of 2.5 yards per carry. This was the difference in the game Iowa stopped the run and forced turnovers.
We've already seen through the first 5 games the offense have to come up big on the road vs Iowa State. We saw special teams come up big with a Koehn 57 yard field goal against Pittsburgh, and now we've seen the defense come through in the clutch to win a game on the road. Over the years Iowa has played a lot of close games. The years they are good they win the close games over the past few years it seemed like every close game Iowa would find a way to lose. In the first 5 games Iowa has found a way to win. Once again just like vs Iowa State, Iowa calmly swarmed across to pick up the heartland trophy. Last year the Hawks were 0-4 in Trophy games this year they've already taken two of those back and have two more on the agenda. This was a good old fashioned Defensive battle and the tougher more physical team would win. On Saturday that was Iowa. I'll have preview for the Illinois game coming up later in the week, as the Illini pulled of a 14-13 win over Nebraska.
Thanks For Reading
Go Hawks
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