Fun Facts: Wisconsin-Iowa

I thought 'Heartland Trophy' (Iowa-Wisconsin) was a lame name for a rivalry trophy. Then came 'Heroes Trophy' (Iowa-Nebraska) and 'Freedom Trophy' (Nebraska-Wisconsin).

As someone told me recently, 'Always got to market it as something you can't criticize. So boring.'

Now, on with the Fun Facts:

1. Wisconsin has won its last seven trophy games. Its last loss in one was a 20-10 defeat to Iowa in 2009.

2. This is Iowa's first game on ABC since it played Nebraska to end the 2013 regular-season.

3. Neither Iowa or Wisconsin play Michigan, Michigan State, Ohio State or Penn State this season. Not in the regular-season, anyway.

4. Wisconsin leads this series, 43-42-2. It leads its men's basketball series with Iowa, 80-79.

5. Iowa has scored 30 or more points in four Big Ten games for the first time since 2005. The last time Iowa hit the 30-point mark in five Big Ten games was 2002.

6. Wisconsin has scored at least 36 points in its last five Big Ten games.

7. This is the third-straight Wisconsin-Iowa game to be played in Iowa City.

8. Iowa has lost its last eight games against ranked teams. The Hawkeyes beat No. 13 Michigan in 2011, 24-16.

9. Since 2006, the Badgers are 26-6 in November.

10. Wisconsin's Gary Andersen was 19-29 in his first four years as a college head coach. He is 28-8 since.

11. The Badgers' Melvin Gordon has 993 first-half rushing yards. Only four Big Ten players have more than that in first- and second-halves combined.

12. Gordon rushed 17 times for just 38 yards in Wisconsin's 37-3 win over Western Illinois on Sept. 6.

13. Wisconsin leads the nation in rushes of 20-plus yards (44), 30-plus (28), 40-plus (21), 50-plus (12) and 60-plus (8). But it has just one rush of 70-plus yards, while Indiana and New Mexico have four.

14. The Heartland Trophy is a bull mounted on a walnut base. Bull's Trophy House is in Springfield, Mo.

15. Dave Flemming will do the play-by-play for ABC's telecast of this game. Flemming is a play-by-play announcer for San Francisco Giants radio and television broadcasts. Flemming would have had the call for Barry Bonds' record-breaking 715th-career home run, but his microphone went dead at the worst possible moment.