| Several times this year I'm commented that everything set up for Purdue and Minnesota, in a year where they drew easy crossovers, had experienced quarterbacks, Northwestern wasn't having a random Northwestern year, and MOSTLY, Wisconsin and Iowa weren't contenders, and yet couldn't take advantage. And yet, with 3 weeks left Wisconsin and Iowa find themselves tied, 1 game behind Illinois. Granted both have a head to head loss to the Illini, but if Purdue can win this weekend, that opens up all kinds of three way tie scenarios. I said last week that the Wisconsin-Maryland game would tell me what was real, (i) Maryland's season, or (ii) Wisconsin's resurgence. The Badgers dominated that game. The weather neutered what Maryland wanted to do, but that just made it uglier, instead of merely ugly. Neither team could pass the ball, and while Wisconsin didn't NEED to, it's a lot tougher to run when they know you have to, and Wisconsin still ran for 6.0 ypc. But Iowa is #3 in the Big Ten in run defense in both ypc and ypg. The only comparable run defense that Bucky has faced was Illinois, who held Wisconsin to 2 yards rushing. Not 2 ypc, which would be solid on its own. No, 2 rushing yards total, on 24 carries, which equates to 0.08 ypc. Their LONGEST run was 5 yards. If Wisconsin can run on this Iowa defense, that is proof that Wisconsin hasn't just righted the ship, but the ship is on the correct course. Speaking of righting the ship, lets talk Iowa offense. The Hawkeyes put up 33 on Northwestern, but Northwestern is awful. Except we then saw Northwestern hold Ohio State's offense in check. And Iowa followed that up with a 24-3 drubbing of Purdue. Kaleb Johnson ran for 200 yards on the day, the highest total for an Iowa back since Akrum Wadley ran for 204 on October 17, 2015 against Northwestern, and only the second 100+ yard performance of the season. This one feels like a total coinflip, so I'll take the home team. |
