Defense. Defense. Defense. What more can you say? I mentioned a few of the stats above, but they are worth repeating. Iowa gained nearly 500 yards and scored 55 points in a 31-point drubbing of Ohio State last week, but was held to 66 yards of offense and no points on offense. The only time the Badgers have allowed fewer yards of offense was 2005 when Wisconsin allowed 45 yards to Temple in a 65-0 drubbing. But that Temple team went 0-11 and this Iowa team was nationally ranked. Iowa quarterback Nate Stanley came back to his home state and had a game to forget. One week after throwing for 226 yards and five touchdowns, the Menomonie, Wis., native threw for just 41 yards on 8-of-24 passing with no touchdowns and one interception. He also lost a fumble. This was only the second game this season in which Stanley failed to throw a touchdown pass and he threw just his fifth interception this season. The longest play for Iowa was just 10 yards and the Hawkeyes were held without a third down conversion, going 0-for-13. They also had just five first downs, turned the ball over three times (including one for a touchdown) and had 21:33 in time of possession, compared to Wisconsin’s 38:27. Iowa came in top five in the conference in scoring, but the Badgers defense shut out the Hawkeyes offense. Once again, when the defense was put in a tough spot, the Wisconsin defense came through. After Jonathan Taylor fumbled near midfield in the first half with the Badgers leading 10-7, the defense responded with a three-and-out. It was total domination by Bucky’s defense. This unit is now third in the country in points allowed per game at 13.4, trailing only Alabama (11.2) and Washington (13). This includes the three pick sixes thrown by Hornibrook as well.
I know it is a cliche to say that it was a total team effort on defense, but it truly was. However, I will single out a few who stood out. First off, Leon Jacobs continued his stellar senior campaign. Jacobs had four tackles and two fumble recoveries, including a sack and made the biggest play of the game, returning a fumble 21 yards for a touchdown to give Bucky a 10-point second half lead. Another who stood out was Ryan Connelly. The junior linebacker had nine tackles, including one sack and two tackles for loss. He was flying around the field, making plays. His sack and forced fumble of Stanley sealed the game. It set the Badgers up at the Iowa 14 and five plays later, A.J. Taylor caught a touchdown to give Bucky a 38-14 lead. Finally, T.J. Edwards only had five tackles against the Hawkeyes, but made one of the bigger plays of the game. With Iowa down 10 but driving near midfield, Stanley had an open Noah Fant on second down, but Edwards knocked it down with one hand and deflected it into his arms for the pick. That pick led to a Bradrick Shaw touchdown to give the Badgers a 31-14 lead.
People might not talk about it much, but Anthony Lotti was a huge factor in the first half. He (along with the defense) kept the team in the game until the offense woke up. He constantly put Iowa back deep in its own territory in the first half. It is tough to even drive a short field against this salty unit, so you can imagine how tough it is to drive a long field against the Wisconsin defense. Lotti punted the ball twice in the second half, and averaged a whopping 60.5 yards per punt and pinned Iowa inside its own 10 both times. Each time following the Wisconsin punt, the defense forced a three-and-out and the Badgers scored a touchdown on a short field following the Iowa punt. Lotti was a massive weapon at the start of the game. For the game, the Wisconsin punter booted five punts for an average of 43.6 yards per with three being downed inside the Hawkeyes 10. On the other two punts, Iowa started at its own 20.
No Quintez Cephus? No D’Cota Dixon? No Chris Orr? No problem. Seemingly every week Wisconsin is hit with a major injury. Cephus and Orr were hurt last week and Cephus is out for the season. Dixon went out for warm-ups, but in the end, he sat out. No matter who is out, other players stepped up. I did not even mention players who have been out for some time like Jazz Peavy and Jack Cichy. Without Orr, Connelly got the start and was tremendous, as I mentioned earlier. Without its top two wide receivers, Cephus and Peavy, others stepped up. Freshman Kendric Pryor had two touches in the game......and scored both times. His 25-yard touchdown run on the jet sweep gave Bucky his first lead of the game at 10-7. Then, he followed that with a great catch in the end zone right before halftime for the 10-point lead. Fellow freshman Danny Davis had a career day in both receptions and receiving yards with four catches for 74 yards, including a fantastic 28-yard reception along the sideline to set up the Shaw touchdown. In the game, starting center Tyler Biadasz was injured late in the first half and Jason Erdmann took over. Other than a mishandled exchange between him and Hornibrook, he played well. It really is a ‘next man up’ mentality.
Lastly, I will mention the running game. Jonathan Taylor once again had a big game, rushing for 157 yards on 29 carries. As a team, the Badgers rushed 49 times for 247 yards for five yards per carry. As good as Taylor was, I am encouraged by the running from Shaw and Chris James. Going into the year, many expected those two to be the duo that would lead Wisconsin. Shaw had a solid game against Utah State, but has not been the same since having to miss the Florida Atlantic game in week two. That game led to the explosion of Taylor. He stepped in for Shaw and has never relinquished the starting role. After scoring his first touchdown last week, Shaw carried the ball 10 times for 47 yards and a score. His 4.7 yards per carry is the highest he has had this year. If he can get going, it makes the ground attack that much more lethal. Same with James, a junior who transferred from Pittsburgh. In his first carries since the Nebraska game more than a month ago, James rushed three times for 18 yards. It was nice to see him get back on track a bit as well.
To start with the negatives, I have to start off by mentioning the turnovers. I will get to Hornibrook more in a minute, but he was the only reason why Iowa was even in the game into the second half. His two pick sixes were all the Hawkeyes could get in the game. His deep interception intended for Davis could have taken points off the board since the Badgers had a first down at their own 44 and were running the ball effectively. Also, Taylor is an incredible running back, obviously. He is third in the country in rushing. However, he has a bad habit of putting the ball on the turf. He lost his fourth fumble on the season during the game and nearly lost his fifth late in the game. Taylor will need to improve his ball security. The Badgers had four turnovers in the game and have turned it over a whopping 19 times this season, which is the second most in the conference. Simply put, that is too many. If they play turnover free in a game, the Badgers are nearly impossible to take down. Too bad Wisconsin has only played one game like that this season.
I touched on it a bit above, but Hornibrook needs to be better. He absolutely cannot give the opponents points with pick sixes. Against Iowa, he threw his second and third of that variety this season. The defense is fantastic, but he can’t keep putting them in poor position. With his three picks against Iowa, the sophomore quarterback has 12 on the year, which is fourth most in the country. Fortunately, he generally comes back strong following picks. Maybe he can throw a few in practice to get it out of his system before Michigan on Saturday? The guy is just maddeningly inconsistent. He’ll make boneheaded decisions like the first pick six by Jackson, but then make throws like the dime to Davis to move deep into Iowa territory late in the game. Yes, Iowa was borderline top 10 in opponents passing efficiency coming in, but he needs to be more careful. He has an interception in all seven Big Ten games so far and has 11 in that time, compared to nine touchdowns. Hornibrook does have multiple touchdown passes in three of the last four games, which is nice to see, though. But he needs to cut down the mistakes if he wants to lead the Badgers into the College Football Playoff.
Overall, though, it was a dominating performance by the Badgers. I know turnovers are a part of the game, but if you were to take out the turnovers by the Cardinal and White, this was a beating of epic proportions. Wisconsin outgained Iowa 382-66, including 247-25 on the ground. They won the time of possession by nearly 2-to-1 and held the Hawkeyes to zero third down conversions. It was total domination by the Badgers. It was easily the best performance by the team in conference play. Like I said at the start, I have never seen a Wisconsin defense be this dominant in a game, ever. Bucky will need to be at his best this weekend as well, as the Badgers welcome the Michigan Wolverines to Camp Randall Stadium for an 11 am CST kick this Saturday. The game will be televised nationally on FOX. College Gameday will be in the house for that one.
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