The Wisconsin Badgers were humbled in a 37-0 loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes on Saturday, giving up the Heartland Trophy for the fourth consecutive season in an ugly showing at Camp Randall Stadium.
Looking for his first signature win at Wisconsin, head coach Luke Fickell found his squad down 23-0 at halftime, with mental errors, turnovers, and a lack of physicality continuing to plague the team in another ugly loss.
It marks Wisconsin’s fourth straight loss, all by at least 14 points, and eighth straight loss in Big
Ten play, leaving fans booing yet again at Camp Randall.
Here’s our recap of Wisconsin’s humiliating 37-0 loss to Iowa on Saturday.
1st half
Wisconsin set the tone in the wrong way to start things off, as linebacker Tyreese Fearbry was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct before the game began, forcing Wisconsin to kick 15 yards deeper. That prompted Iowa to receive the opening kickoff.
Even with decent starting field position, the Badgers defense quickly forced the Iowa offense into a three-and-out and gave the ball straight to the Wisconsin offense, as Hawkeyes quarterback Mark Gronowski had an errant throw on third down.
Offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes looked to involve Trech Kekahuna early in this game, with the first two plays designed to get the ball in his hands. But, things went awry from there as Kekahuna went down with a scary head injury on the second play of the game off of a jet sweep run. He was quickly ruled out.
The Badgers continued downfield, picking up two first downs on the drive, but a bad spot on a Chris Brooks Jr. catch led to a 4th down and a punt. On that same play, Badgers quarterback Hunter Simmons had Vinny Anthony open for a potential touchdown, but looked off him and elected to throw the ball to Brooks.
On its second possession, Iowa decided to attack the Badgers up the middle with huge runs from sophomore running back Kamari Moulton, getting the Hawkeyes to the Wisconsin 20. From there, the Badgers’ defensive line and second level finally stood their ground, getting a run stop followed by solid pass coverages to keep Iowa to a field goal.
With the Wisconsin defense coming up with a solid stand in their own territory, it looked like the Badgers would have some momentum heading into their second possession, but this was where their woes began.
On the second play of the Badgers’ drive, Hunter Simmons’s pass was tipped and intercepted by defensive lineman Bryce Hawthorne, giving the Hawkeyes the ball at the Wisconsin 24-yard line.
From there, Iowa quarterback Mark Gronowski hit receiver Sam Philips for a 14-yard gain, setting up a 1st & Goal. Then, running back Kamari Moulton took it in from 6 yards out, untouched for the easy score.
Within the first three drives, the Badgers defense gave up 72 yards on the ground on only nine carries. But, the problem was not with their defense entirely. Wisconsin struggled to play complementary football yet again, and Iowa’s run game was starting to catch up behind an elite offensive line.
With Iowa now up 10-0, the Badgers needed to get some rhythm on offense and to get the game in control, but the struggles continued. On the second play of the drive, Simmons was, once again, picked off. What looked to be a delayed screen to running back Dilin Jones was read perfectly by lineman Aaron Graves, who intercepted the ball en route to Jones and ran it back to the Wisconsin half-yard line.
The Hawkeyes did not let the opportunity go to waste, as Mark Gronowski had a quarterback sneak to give Iowa an early 17-0 lead.
As it has been all season long, the Badgers offense was once again forced to punt on the ensuing possession following a questionable 3rd & 1 pass call on a play-action. That would’ve made sense if Wisconsin looked to go for it on fourth down, but they punted once again near the end of the first quarter.
However, hope was still there. On the first play of Iowa’s drive, Gronowski made another ugly decision, looking to go deep. His pass was intercepted by Ricardo Hallman at the Wisconsin 37-yard line to end the first quarter, giving the Badgers another opportunity offensively.
This energy was immediately sucked out of the crowd, though. Flustered in the pocket on 2nd & 9, Simmons threw a backward pass over the head of running back Darrion Dupree that Iowa recovered deep in Wisconsin territory.
The Badgers had three turnovers in their last four possessions, each of which set up Iowa in plus territory. The Badgers were simply unable to play complementary football throughout the first half and most of the game, relying heavily on their defense to get stops while already placed in tough situations.
This time around, the Badgers defense was able to hold their ground, winning the line of scrimmage battle in a goal-to-go situation and forcing Iowa into another field goal.
With the score 20-0, the Badgers were in desperate need of some sort of offensive production, and Dilin Jones answered the call, getting back-to-back first downs on runs of 13 and 10 yards. But, Wisconsin got stuck in a 4th & 1 situation a few plays later, and they took a chance to go for it.
Jeff Grimes had an interesting play call here with a sprint right concept and a late release for tight end Lance Mason, but the ball went right through Mason’s hands, resulting in another back-breaker for the Badgers. Iowa was once again set up with great field position off the offense’s inability to drive the ball down the field.
The Badgers defense held their ground here, forcing a 3-and-out, giving the offense a chance to put points on the board with four minutes left in the half.
Following a quick out to Vinny Anthony for eight yards and a solid run by Dilin Jones for a gain of six, Hunter Simmons found Lance Mason on a deep crosser for a pickup of 29. With the ball in Iowa territory and a chance to get some points, the Badgers’ offense stalled. An initial loss of 3 on a rush by Jones, followed by an incomplete pass, put the Badgers in a long 3rd down. The Badgers almost pulled off the touchdown on 3rd and 13 with a deep post to Ballard, but the pass fell incomplete on what looked like a pass interference by Iowa. That forced yet another Wisconsin punt.
With 1:40 left in the half, Iowa put together its best offensive drive yet, despite being pinned at its own six-yard line. Kamari Moulton rushed for 12 yards on the first play and followed that with an 18-yard gain from a screen pass. Mark Gronowski continued to attack the short areas of the field, hitting receivers on curls and hitches and driving down to the Wisconsin 25-yard line. As the clock hit zero on the second quarter, kicker Drew Stevens nailed a 49-yard field goal, leading to a 23-point lead for the Hawkeyes.
Kamari Moluton finished the half with 70 of the Hawkeyes’ 113 yards on the ground and tacked on a touchdown as well.
2nd Half
Wisconsin got the ball to open the second half, but was quickly forced into a three-and-out. Iowa responded with another strong drive, as Kamari Moulton had rushes of 4, 14, and 4 yards, while Xavier Williams capped the drive off with gains of 8 and 29 yards, going untouched on the final drive for a touchdown.
Wisconsin’s defensive front just couldn’t generate any traction against a tough-nosed Iowa offense, with the offensive line consistently generating big holes up front.
Down 30-0, the Badgers got some life behind their rushing attack on the ensuing drive, as Dilin Jones got five straight carries to open the drive. Wisconsin did get two first downs, but was stuck with a 4th & 2 at the Iowa 45-yard line. There, Hunter Simmons had a poor decision trying to hit a covered Grant Stec, resulting in another turnover on downs.
After back-to-back punts on both sides, Iowa compiled a 10-play, 46-yard touchdown drive solely via its rushing attack, with Xavier Williams going for 19 yards on 3rd & 9 to seal the deal at 37-0.
Neither side would score afterwards, with the Badgers getting shut out for the first time this season in humiliating fashion. While other Big Ten programs are finding ways to trend upwards, Wisconsin’s arrow continues to point downwards, and things aren’t getting much easier with the Ohio State Buckeyes and Oregon Ducks coming up in back-to-back weeks.
