For a change in Wisconsin vs. Iowa game, it’s the Hawkeyes with the running back du jour

Wisconsin-Iowa. Well, la di da.

It’s fun to say “la di da” once in a while. Especially since Wisconsin-Iowa football never is “la di da.” It’s all grunts and groans, always has been, and will be again Saturday.

Under second-year Badgers coach Luke Fickell, Wisconsin has rushed 311 times and passed 246. Five years ago, the split was 612-351. Ten years ago, it was 648-322. Twenty-five years ago, it was 636-219.

Tawee Walker, Wisconsin’s leading rusher, averages 89 yards per game. Many Badger backs of the past have fallen forward for that many yards each week.

Wisconsin’s Ron Dayne and Jonathan Taylor are second and fourth, respectively, on the NCAA’s career rushing list. The Badgers have six players of the last 25 years who had 4,000 career rushing yards. Iowa has one, its current running backs coach, Ladell Betts.

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This year, though, Iowa has the marquee running back. Kaleb Johnson has rushed for 1,144 yards through eight games, 143 per game. Dayne, Taylor, Gordon, Montee Ball and all those mammoth Wisconsin offensive linemen would have saluted Johnson.

Dayne and Taylor had a pair of 2,000-yard seasons apiece, and Gordon had one. Johnson has work to do to get there, but how galling would it be to Wisconsin fans to see an Iowa running back command a game against the Badgers?

Wisconsin and Iowa meet in prime time on NBC, which would have been a huge deal not long ago. Still, a nighttime Wisconsin-Iowa game will produce an atmosphere at Kinnick Stadium that will be lively to say the least. Let’s just hope the fans of both teams don’t have any adult beverages before, say, 5 p.m.

Just kidding. The tailgating crowd will be more juiced than a fruit stand.

The game in Iowa with the most significance Saturday, however, is west of Williamsburg.

It’s Texas Tech-Iowa State, and here’s what’s on the line:

If the Cyclones win to get to 8-0, they will be part of the first College Football Playoff rankings when they’re announced Tuesday night.

Something else is happening Tuesday, too. It escapes me at the moment. I’m sure someone will remind us of it between now and then.

There will be no keeping Iowa State out of the CFP’s top 12 Tuesday if it tends to its knitting against the Red Raiders. For whatever else that happens in future weeks, that would be a barrel of fun in itself for Cyclone World.

Fellow Big 12-unbeaten BYU is off this week, so it knows it will take an 8-0 mark into Tuesday. It would be interesting to see if an 8-0 ISU would be slotted ahead of BYU Tuesday by the CFP. No, the two teams aren’t scheduled to meet.

Texas Tech is like many Big 12 teams. It isn’t great, but it’s good enough to beat anyone else in the league on a good night. It leads the conference in scoring and total offense, but it’s 15th in total defense and 16th in scoring defense.

If the Cyclones win this one to get to 8-0 for the first time in their 127-year football history, what a final month that would set up.

The idea Iowa State could be in the CFP Top 12 Tuesday while Michigan, Oklahoma, LSU, Florida State, USC and maybe even Ohio State and Alabama are on the outside looking in is almost too delicious to contemplate.

The deck will be stacked when it comes to actually pick the final 12, folks. If it’s a tie between an SEC or Big Ten team and a Big 12 club, the one from the Power 2 will get the duke because that’s how this life works. Any Big 12 team in the field must win the league title or have no more than one loss.

So Cyclone fans should enjoy the buildup for Saturday’s game all the more, and celebrate the triumph even harder Saturday night if it happens. Then get ready to go to Arrowhead Stadium next Saturday for the ISU-Kansas game, and pull the time-honored Iowa State trick of overwhelming the city of Kansas City.

That will be the third of four Kansas home games at the NFL Chiefs’ stadium as the school renovates its own stadium. The first two drew an average of 43,274 fans. Iowa State’s game there will get a lot closer to the 76,416 capacity.

First, however, is Texas Tech. Hang a 50 on that leaky defense, and the Cyclones will be just fine.

Comments: (319) 398-8440; mike.hlas@thegazette.com