Halftime Thoughts: Wisconsin 16, Iowa 3

IOWA CITY - It was a pretty good first quarter for Iowa.

It was not a good first half.

The second-quarter yardage

: Wisconsin 146, Iowa 46.

In second-quarters this season, the Badgers have outscored their foes, 136-20. In second-quarters this season, the Hawkeyes have been outscored, 105-61.

By the way, Wisconsin has outpointed opponents in third-quarters, 132-30.

Luck usually evens out

over a season or a lifetime, but not necessarily in a game.

Iowa safety John Lowdermilk made a fabulous play in ripping the ball from Wisconsin star running back Melvin Gordon in Wisconsin territory midway through the second quarter. The ball flew up into the air.

But Badger receiver Kenzel Doe fell on the ball. The next play, Doe caught a 25-yard pass from Joel Stave. Wisconsin proceeded to go the rest of the way for a 73-yard touchdown drive and a 16-3 lead with 1:05 left in the half.

Luck had nothing to do with what followed on the possession. Wisconsin converted a 3rd-and-5, 3rd-and-8, and 3rd-and-11.

Tanner McEvoy's 45-yard touchdown run

with 11:02 left in the half was a thing of beauty.

Everyone in the stadium thought McEvoy had handed the ball off to Gordon. Iowa defensive end Mike Hardy certainly did. He made what looked like a huge tackle-for-loss.

But away McEvoy went, splitting two safeties and giving the Badgers a 9-3 lead. It wasn't his longest run of the season. He had one for 62 yards earlier this season, and that got him to 563 rushing yards this season.

'The Badgers certainly aren't opposed to using two quarterbacks,” Iowa radio announcer Gary Dolphin said a little later.

The fake had Dolphin bamboozled, too, but I'm not mocking him. I didn't realize what had happened until McEvoy was two-thirds of the way to the end zone. We weren't alone.

The news Oklahoma freshman running back Samae Perine rushed for 437 yards today at Kansas wasn't received well by Badger fans here.

Imagine having a player (Gordon) set the record with 408 yards a week ago, and then, poof, it's swiped by someone else.

Gordon has 14 carries for 39 yards, so it seems unlikely he'll wrest back his record today. If the score holds up, though, he'll probably be fine.

I'm guessing the pregame atmosphere here

was more positive and enthusiastic than it was today at, say, Nebraska.

With six minutes before kickoff, Hawkeye players returned to the playing field and ran to the south end zone, urging their fans to be noisy.

Then came a first-quarter of rock-em, sock-em, with a lot of good pops delivered by both defenses. Gordon had five carries for 12 yards in the quarter, and the total yards were Iowa 95, Wisconsin 23.

But the Badgers' Rafael Gaglianone made a 50-yard field goal after Iowa's Mark Weisman fumbled the ball away, and the quarter ended in a 3-3 tie despite Iowa's statistical dominance.

One thing Iowa couldn't let itself do

in this game was turn the ball over. It did on its second play, Weisman's fumble at the Iowa 39. The defense held Wisconsin to that long field goal, but three points are three points.

It was Iowa's 11th lost fumble in 11 games, to just three for its opponents.

Minnesota's 28-24 win at Nebraska

was impressive. It was uphill almost all the way, but the Gophers never lost the faith. They gave up a blocked field goal return for a touchdown and kept playing their game. They trailed 21-7 and kept playing their game.

Nebraska may come to Kinnick Stadium next Friday with a fife and drum leading it. Three receivers and the starting center got hurt. Star defensive end Randy Gregory isn't physically right.

Psychologically, with two straight demoralizing losses, the Huskers could be a beaten team before the game starts if Iowa is in the right place mentally.

I interviewed Wisconsin Athletic Director Barry Alvarez

Friday night in Cedar Rapids, primarily to ask him about his experience as a College Football Playoff selection committee member. Click here to read that.

But I also asked Alvarez about why he selected Gary Andersen from Utah State to replace Bret Bielema as the Badgers' coach after the 2012 season. Here's what he said:

'I saw the ragtag outfit from Utah State go down to play Auburn, played them off their feet (a 42-38 Auburn win), really should have beaten Auburn.

'We played that same outfit the next year and we were a good team. We played in the Rose Bowl. They should have had us beat. (Wisconsin won, 16-14.) They missed a 37-yard field goal to beat us.

'I'm thinking ‘This guy is doing things the right way.' I kind researched to find out.”

But Wisconsin had a coach in Bielema, who led the Badgers to the Big Ten title. But after the league championship game, he took the Arkansas coaching job.

'In my business - and I'm sure Gary (Barta) is the same way in football and basketball, particularly - you keep a short list of coaches that you'd be interested in if something happens. In a million years, I didn't think we'd have a situation where Bret leaves, but you have people to go to, and Gary Andersen was somebody I wanted to talk to.”

When Alvarez interviewed to become the Badgers' head football coach in late 1989, he had what he calls a pamphlet for then-UW athletic director Pat Richter that listed his philosophy of how he'd run a football program.

When Alvarez interviewed Andersen after the 2012 season, Andersen had a modern-day version of a pamphlet. 'You talk about the same template,” Alvarez said. 'The beliefs were the same, the emphasis was the same. The core values were very similar.

'The clincher for me was when I called a captain from our first Rose Bowl team (Joe Panos) who's now an agent, he manages a lot of players. I asked if he knew any Utah State guys in the (National Football) League. I asked him to check with them on Gary Andersen.

'He called back and said ‘Coach, they can't say enough good things about him. And there's some tough knuckleheads, but every one said they'd do anything for him and he's a player's coach.”

If the Badgers win this game and next Saturday's in Madison against Minnesota, Andersen is taking them to the Big Ten title game in his second season. And the future looks bright.