2-Minute Drill: Iowa Hawkeyes vs. Wisconsin Badgers

The Hawkeyes are 5-2 (3-1 Big Ten). No one can say exactly what they are or where they're headed, even after seven games of evidence. Sometimes, this works and that doesn't. How did this team get schemed and powered against North Dakota State? Iowa's best win is at Minnesota and who knows what that means exactly.

And yet, Iowa will play No. 10 Wisconsin (4-2, 1-2) in what amounts to a Big Ten West Division tournament game. Yes, tournament game. B1G divisional play has made for a pseudo round robin in October/November. This season, Iowa, Wisconsin, Nebraska and Northwestern will play with divisional stakes.

Iowa and Wisconsin have played a spirited rivalry (it's 44-43-2 in favor of the Badgers). The games haven't always held a ton of weight. That was then, this is now in the B1G West.

The Hawkeyes' victory at Madison last year was the conference opener for both schools. When asked this week, several Hawkeyes pointed to that 10-6 as the 'season definer.' As long as these programs are pointed in the right direction, the West race gives this rivalry a little extra oomph, no matter when the game is played.

Unless one of these teams has crumbled, they will be playing each other for stakes in the West Division every season. Iowa is 5-2 and hasn't beaten anyone and has injury questions and has largely been uneven all season, but Saturday it has a chance to make a move in the B1G West.

Game time is 11 a.m. and is on ESPN.

WISCONSIN RUSH DEFENSE VS. IOWA RUSH OFFENSE

The Badgers bring their base 3-4 odd front to Kinnick. This will be Iowa's third shot at it since former defensive coordinator Dave Aranda brought it to Madison before the 2014 season. In the two previous games, Iowa has rushed 68 times for 245 yards (3.6 per carry) and just one TD. It's not just Iowa, it's been tough to run against the Badgers for the entire Big Ten.

The odd front and unpredictable blitzes from linebackers gum up Iowa's base inside zone. Badgers defensive coordinator Justin Wilcox, in his first season after replacing Aranda, stresses winning first and second down and putting pressure on the offense to convert on third down. Wisconsin has allowed just 26.3 percent of third downs against converted (20 of 76).

Wisconsin's linebackers are excellent, led by T.J. Watt (6-5, 243), Jack Cichy (6-2, 233) and Vince Biegel (6-4, 245), who's back this week after missing two games because of surgery on his right foot. Cichy leads UW with 50 tackles and has 7.0 tackles for loss. He won Big Ten defensive player of the week for his performance against Ohio State (15 tackles, 3.5 tackles for loss, a sack and a forced fumble. Watt has 34 tackles and leads the Badgers with 8.0 tackles for loss and 5.5 sacks.

Nose tackle Olive Sagapolu takes up space at 6-2, 340, but his is listed as questionable with an arm injury.

Iowa's rushing game has gotten well the past two weeks with 179 yards at Minnesota and 365 against a depleted Purdue front last weekend. Still, running backs Akrum Wadley and LeShun Daniels set up as the Hawkeyes' best punch.

Read more: Iowa running backs keeping the offense afloat

Iowa has injury questions in the offensive front, with tight end George Kittle (foot) and tackles Boone Myers (ankle) Cole Croston (ankle) nursing injuries (Croston missed last week; Kittle ended the game in sweats and a immobilizer boot). Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said on his Wednesday night radio show the three were 'gaining ground.' That could mean anything. We'll just have to wait and see.

Where can Iowa attack? Can offensive coordinator Greg Davis script something to get the Badgers off balance and attack the edge with speed? Can Iowa's OL get off its heels while it guesses which linebacker is coming? The Hawkeyes will have to weather a pile of three-and-outs and 1-yard runs. This is about staying the course.

Advantage: Push

WISCONSIN PASS DEFENSE VS. IOWA PASS OFFENSE

Pressure is a huge question this week. In two games against the Badgers 3-4 zone-blitz happy defense, Hawkeyes quarterbacks have been sacked six times. C.J. Beathard had the worst game of his career last season while enduring six sacks. He completed just 9 of 21 passes for 77 yards.

Iowa has struggled with overloaded zone blitzes. North Dakota ended Iowa's final drive with a blitz that sent two players to one gap, forcing the O-lineman and running back to guess. They guessed wrong. Stanford ran numbers games at the Hawkeyes in the Rose Bowl and pounded out seven sacks.

The Badgers are veteran and talented in the secondary. Cornerback Sojourn Shelton is a senior with six career interceptions. Junior corner Derrick Tindal leads UW with three interceptions this season. Safeties D'Cota Dixon and Leo Musso are first-year starters, but they've combined for 53 tackles and three interceptions. Dixon also has three QB hurries.

Can Iowa's passing game find a rhythm between fending off blitzes and tangling with a defense that has eight interceptions? Iowa has passed for 200 yards just twice this season. It hasn't had to in three blowout wins, but Beathard has averaged just 10.4 yards per completion the last three games, which happens to coincide with wide receiver Matt VandeBerg's foot injury. That's 114th in the nation.

At Minnesota, Davis showed a wrinkle getting Kittle out to block on bubble screens. Iowa will need to keep Wisconsin somewhat spread out if it wants to run the football. Iowa's play-action passing game has been hit and miss this season. It's hit for big plays, but more often has seen a rusher in Beathard's face. This also could be used to keep the Badgers from putting a safety near the line of scrimmage to stop the rush, but has Iowa's pass protection been stable enough to feel good about Beathard turning his back on the line of scrimmage and then finding a wide receiver?

Read more: Hawkeyes can't wait around on 'unrealistic probably'

With Kittle, this probably is a check mark for Wisconsin. Without, it certainly is.

Advantage: Wisconsin

WISCONSIN RUSH OFFENSE VS. IOWA RUSH DEFENSE

Iowa's rush defense has had a renaissance the last few weeks. The most impressive performance was bottling up a Minnesota rush attack that hadn't been stopped until it saw the Hawkeyes. Iowa help the Gophers to 102 rushing yards, which was 126 below their average at the time. How? The Hawkeyes played their gaps, maintained gap control and rallied to the ball like they hadn't this season. They recognized what the Gophers were trying to do and that allowed them to play faster.

Iowa was just plain bad at stopping the run earlier this season. The 239 yards allowed vs. North Dakota State might end up being an outlier, but right now it's the stat of the season, a huge contributor in a home loss.

Gaps are going to be gold against the Badgers. The basic idea of coach Paul Chryst's offense is the baked-in goodness of the Barry Alvarez offense that has really built the UW program into a perennial Rose Bowl contender. It's a really great running back out of the I-formation behind a fullback and a strong physical line that churns on zone-blocking schemes.

Wisconsin includes a whole bunch of eye candy. Last week against Ohio State, wide receiver Jazz Peavy ran six jet sweeps for 70 yards, catching the Buckeyes asleep on the perimeter. The formations and motions are designed to catch defensive players leaning. Iowa will have to be disciplined and read plays quickly as it did against Minnesota.

Wisconsin running back Corey Clement (5-11, 227) is healthy and hit Ohio State with several explosive runs, finishing with 164 yards on 25 carries. Wisconsin lost center Dan Voltz to retirement due to injuries earlier this season, but sophomore Brett Connors (6-6, 306) has jumped right in. The left side of the Badgers OL, guard Michael Deiter (6-6, 325) and tackle Ryan Ramczyk have ground out opponents.

Let's see if Iowa's proficiency against the run holds up.

Advantage: Wisconsin

WISCONSIN PASS OFFENSE VS. IOWA PASS DEFENSE

Redshirt freshman quarterback Alex Hornibrook has three career starts under his belt. They are at Michigan State (when the Spartans still were considered a thing this year), at No. 4 Michigan and home against No. 2 Ohio State. So yes, his numbers reflect games against bruising competition.

Hornibrook moved things along nicely against the Spartans (61.5 completion percentage). He hit a wall, figuratively, against Michigan, throwing three interceptions. And then again moving things along nicely against Ohio State, showing a nice touch with 214 yards, a TD and an interception.

Peavy (6-0, 184) and fellow wide receiver Robert Wheelright (6-3, 211) have combined for 41 receptions, 667 yards and three TDs. TE Troy Fumagalli (6-6, 248) leads UW with 23 receptions.

Chryst has smartly introduced some quick run-pass option throws to help Hornibrook gain confidence and keep defenses from pouring defenders on top of the line of scrimmage.

The Hawkeyes secondary has held up, largely because cornerback Desmond King might be the most feared defensive player in the B1G West. The Badgers probably won't go at King, but Iowa's coverage can't afford some of the breakdowns that showed up in the second half against Purdue, mostly along the lines of communication and players seemingly not getting the right coverage calls.

The Hawkeyes are tied for second in the league with 18 sacks. The front four piled up a season-high 24 QB hurries last week at Purdue. Wisconsin has protected the quarterback pretty well this season, allowing just 12.0 sacks. Can Iowa's front four create pressure and, maybe, force Hornibrook into a turnover?

Advantage: Iowa

SPECIAL TEAMS

With Rafael Gaglianone out for the season (back injury), senior kicker Andrew Endicott is now 4-for-4 in his career after going three field goals last week against Ohio State. He drilled a career-long 46-yarder in the first quarter and then added kicks of 32 and 22 yards in the second.

Sophomore kickoff specialist P.J. Rosowski has 20 touchbacks. His 62.5 percent (20 of 32) is second only to Iowa's Ron Coluzzi, who's at 77.5 percent (a league-high 31 touchbacks on 40 kickoffs). UW opponents have returned only 13 of 34 kickoffs and average just 14.7 yards per return, giving UW the best kickoff return defense in the nation. The Badgers lead the Big Ten in kickoff coverage with a net average of 57.3 yards per kickoff.

Second-year UW assistant coach Chris Haering is a dedicated special teams coach, with no coaching responsibility for any offense or defense. Wisconsin is one of just six Power Five programs that have a dedicated special teams coordinator (Nebraska also is in that group.)

This is week 8 of the season and the Hawkeyes' longest field goal this season is 28 yards. Freshman Keith Duncan is 4 of 4 this season with all of his field goals coming from 28 yards and in. Sophomore Miguel Recinos tried a 50-yarder at Minnesota that fell short. It's late in the season for this to be an open-ended question, especially for a team that has had four of its seven games decided by a TD or less.

Advantage: Iowa

INTANGIBLES

1. These teams lead the nation in saying they want to be the most physical — Everyone knows this about Iowa and Wisconsin. It's going to be three hours of 'Over The Top,' that Sylvester Stallone arm wrestling movie. Maybe time of possession is the number that says 'physical'? In that case, the Badgers hold a 33:58 to 30:09 edge. But really, this is something you only know when you see it.

2. Staying the course — There's physically tough and then there's mentally tough. The last four meetings for the Heartland Trophy have been decided by 6.5 points on average. Iowa offensive players talked about withstanding three-and-outs and 1- or 2-yard carries. Maybe the best stat for this is the Badgers' close losses against Michigan and Ohio State? Or, who knows, maybe it's Iowa's two close losses to North Dakota State and Northwestern?

3. Tracking the trophies — Wisconsin, which has won four straight in Kinnick, plays for three rivalry trophies. It holds the Paul Bunyan Axe (Minnesota) and the Freedom Trophy (Nebraska). The only empty trophy case for the Badgers is the Heartland Trophy. Iowa has won six consecutive trophy games, sweeping all four — Cy-Hawk (Iowa State), Floyd of Rosedale (Minnesota), Heartland and Heroes Trophy (Nebraska) — last season and winning two (Cy-Hawk and Floyd) so far this year.

WISCONSIN WILL WIN IF ... The Badgers can contain Iowa's running game. The Hawkeyes won't win this game through the air. They just haven't shown the ability to move the ball consistently or come up with a vein of big plays.

IOWA WILL WIN IF ... The Hawkeyes eliminate the drive killers that have popped up all too often in their losses and close victories. We're talking penalties, negative yardage plays and sacks. Also, the progress Iowa's defense has made in stopping the run has to be real and has to show up.

PREDICTION: Wisconsin 19, Iowa 16