Three straight games of the exact same story, nearly word-for-word. The Heartland Trophy will be headed back to Iowa City after a second half explosion on offense by the Hawkeyes put the game out of reach.
The first half was the exact script from the previous two Wisconsin losses, as Jim Leonhard’s defense made a number of tackles for loss, shut down Iowa’s passing attack, and kept the Badgers in it. Missing star RB Jalen Berger and WR’s Danny Davis and Kendric Pryor didn’t help Graham Mertz under center, and a first half that turned into a punt fest was all too reminiscent of the past two defeats.
Another reminder of recent weeks? Self-inflicted turnovers. On Wisconsin’s first drive of the afternoon, WR Chimere Dike was set in motion and bounced into Graham Mertz as the QB was handing the football off to Nakia Watson. The Badger on Badger contact led to a turnover that was a sign of things to come for Wisconsin’s offense.
A late Keith Duncan field goal had Iowa up 6-0 at the break, in a half that was the definition of sloppy Big Ten football.
After a nearly perfect first 30 minutes of Wisconsin defense, the floodgates opened for Spencer Petras and Iowa. Speedster Ihmir Smith-Marsette got behind the Badger defense for a 19-yard score on a perfect pitch-and-catch to open the half just minutes after a solid Wisconsin drive stalled with a 47-yard field goal miss from Colin Larsh.
After going up 14-0, Wisconsin responded with their best offensive weapon of the day: punter Andy Vujnovich. He booted a 41-yard punt that Hawkeye returned Charlie Jones let bounce in front of him. The bounce turned into a muff, and the Badgers converted three plays later after taking over in the red zone. A 1-yard Nakia Watson run proved to be the only scoring of the afternoon.
A rare miscommunication from Eric Burrell and the Wisconsin secondary led to what felt at the time like a gamer, as Smith-Marsette grabbed a wide-open 53-yard score to make it 21-7 near the end of the third. Following the play, the Iowa star went down after attempting a flip in the end zone. He went to the locker room and returned to the sideline with a walking boot late in the second half.
Wisconsin somehow, someway had two consecutive red zone trips in the fourth quarter, the second of which came off of an illegal punt penalty against the Hawkeyes that set the Badgers up at the Iowa 5. Mertz had a nightmare of a final 15 minutes, missing Jack Dunn for an easy score on 4th down during the first drive, and failing to convert on first-and-goal from the Iowa 5.
A 28-7 beatdown is a fitting ending for the last four weeks of Wisconsin football. Last minute announcements of players missing, play calling that has left everything to be desired, and execution that has not been there brought the regular season to a disappointing close. It’s not time to hit the panic button after so many unpredictable circumstances, especially with the best class in Wisconsin football history getting set to sign this week. It wasn’t the way the Badgers wanted to finish the present, but the future provides reasonable hope.