Wisconsin’s Big Ten Championship hopes took a sizable hit Saturday as the Badgers fell 15-6 to the Iowa Hawkeyes and relinquished control of the Big Ten West.
The loss obviously affects the division race, but it also affects the Badgers’ rest-of-season outlook. The team will now be without starting quarterback Tanner Mordecai for some time and does not appear well-equipped to beat a team built on physicality.
That last note is part of a larger conversation. But the note on Mordecai changes a lot. Wisconsin now must turn to Braedyn Locke to run an offense built around the passing game. Things are not great.
For how much the outlook has changed, here is how ESPN FPI predicts the rest of Wisconsin’s season: