Respect comes easy between Iowa, Wisconsin

IOWA CITY — Pride and respect act as currency in college football.

What you think of an opponent, and vice versa, has a direct impact on the manner in which a team prepares. Every coach and every player on every team will say they respect each new opponent they come across, but human nature suggests it's impossible to have equal amounts of respect for every opponent.

For instance, the Iowa football team might have to watch a lot of film on a non-conference opponent to find why they should be taken seriously. The Hawkeyes don't have to search for reasons to respect No. 10 Wisconsin.

'It's just how you go out and play,' said quarterback C.J. Beathard. 'If they play hard, if they play tough; if they don't care what the scoreboard says (and) come off the ball. … That's what gets those guys respect, especially (from) a team like Iowa, where we like to run the ball; we like to come off the ball and try to be physical and tough.'

Whatever bullish metaphor you want to use for the battle for the Heartland Trophy, it's probably accurate.

The Badgers (4-2, 1-2 Big Ten) come into Kinnick Stadium to face the Hawkeyes (5-2, 2-1) after nearly toppling two of the best teams in the country in No. 4 Michigan — a 14-7 loss — and No. 2 Ohio State — a 30-23 overtime loss last week.

Still, Wisconsin stayed in the top 10 of the national rankings. Coach Paul Chryst said 'we don't need it to validate who we are or what we are or what we need to do, but we appreciate it.'

'I still think it's the beauty of the season,' Chryst said. 'It's a journey, and what you do each day and each week puts it all into the story of who you were.'

Who the Badgers are is defined pretty easily in the way they played the Wolverines and Buckeyes — as well as LSU and Michigan State before that. Wisconsin plays the brand of no-nonsense football that has long defined the Big Ten. The Badgers have the ability to do multiple things on offense with quarterback Alex Hornibrook, running back Corey Clement and receiver Jazz Peavy, and the defense is enough to haunt a quarterback's dreams. Wisconsin plays a true 3-4 defense, and seemingly has linebackers for days.

Inside linebackers Jack Cichy and T.J. Edwards are joined by outside linebackers T.J. Watt (yes, J.J.'s brother), Garrett Dooley and Vince Biegel, who started the first four games of the season before injury. They change how an offensive line has to think and move, and created all kinds of problems for Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett last week.

So it's easy to see why, just in the vacuum of this season alone, Iowa would have no problem at all giving its respect to Wisconsin.

'What makes sense to me is when you look at film and then you look at a team's ranking, and if they match then you can say, yeah, that makes sense. That's not always the case,' said Coach Kirk Ferentz. 'It always hasn't been as pretty as they probably wanted, but they've got a good record, and they more importantly have got a football team that really plays well, and again, it doesn't seem to matter if they're on the road or at home.'

Things don't happen in a vacuum, though.

The fact that Wisconsin and Iowa play such a physical brand of football and match up in the way they do now is shared by history. It's no coincidence the all-time series between the two programs — started in 1894 — sits at 44-43-2 in favor of the Badgers. It's no coincidence that since the Heartland Trophy was introduced to the series, in 2004, that each team has five wins.

If you know any Hawkeyes history before putting on the uniform, you know what you're in for when Bucky comes to town, or when you go to Camp Randall. There's respect in opponents using trickery and deception to beat you, but Iowa players say there's a special kind of respect that comes for a team that lines up and wants to take them on man-to-man.

It takes a different level of mental preparation, too, to get ready for a game that has historically been low-scoring and close. The players know it's going to hurt. They know there are going to be more than a few one- or two-yard runs.

And they love it.

'Every year you look back and you see hard-fought battles,' said offensive lineman Ike Boettger. 'You've got to respect them, absolutely. You (both) just respect the game and how hard it is to win.

'We try to be physical and you look at Wisconsin, they're trying to do the exact same thing. That makes you respect them.'

l Comments: (319) 368-8884; jeremiah.davis@thegazette.com