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Iowa football 2025 early opponent preview: Wisconsin
Badgers bring in new offensive coordinator after 2 years of Air Raid experiment
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Editor’s note: Sixth in a 12-part series previewing each of Iowa football’s 2025 regular-season opponents.
IOWA CITY — Last year’s Iowa-Wisconsin game was not very Wisconsin-esque.
The Hawkeyes trounced their border-state rival, 42-10, in the most lopsided Heartland Trophy game in either direction since 1999. The last Iowa win in the series by such a wide margin was in 1968 — about five years before Wisconsin’s Luke Fickell was born.
It also marked Wisconsin’s first time losing three-plus consecutive Heartland Trophy games since 2002-05.
As the Badgers seek better fortunes against the Hawkeyes on Oct. 11, their offense will have some notable differences.
Fickell fired offensive coordinator (and Air Raid disciple) Phil Longo. The replacement — two-time Broyles Award finalist and former Kansas offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes — has a reputation for effectively establishing the run.
Former Maryland quarterback Billy Edwards Jr. and former Ohio State wide receiver Jayden Ballard were among the Badgers’ notable transfer portal additions. Grimes’ options at running back include Dilin Jones, Cade Yacamelli and Darrion Dupree.
Wisconsin’s defense — led by Cornell College alum Mike Tressel — will benefit from some transfer portal reinforcements, including former LSU defensive lineman Jay’Viar Suggs, former UT-Martin defensive lineman Charles Perkins and former Louisville linebacker Mason Reiger.
The somewhat-new-look Badgers did not get any favors with this year’s schedule. They face three CFP teams during Big Ten play, and the Sept. 13 game at Alabama is one of the hardest nonconference games on any Big Ten team’s schedule. Michigan and Illinois, meanwhile, could be national contenders.
Iowa vs. Wisconsin: 3 things to watch
- Which team better establishes the run? Last year’s Heartland Trophy blowout was in part because of Iowa’s eye-popping 329 rushing yards — the most for the Hawkeyes in any game since 2002.
- Iowa’s receiving corps vs. Wisconsin’s secondary. Ricardo Hallman, a 2023 AP third-team All-American, leads a group of defensive backs that could be a strength for the Badgers in 2025. But for as much as Iowa’s aerial attack has struggled in recent years, Wisconsin’s last interception against an Iowa quarterback was in 2018.
- Who wins the turnover battle? Iowa ranked eighth nationally in turnover margin in 2024, and the Hawkeyes have a 132-25 record in the Kirk Ferentz era when they have a positive turnover margin. In last year’s rout, Iowa had a plus-two advantage in turnovers.
2025 prognosis
After Wisconsin won seven of eight Heartland Trophy games in the 2010s, the pendulum has swung in Iowa’s direction so far in the 2020s. Iowa has a favorable path to taking the bull for the fifth time in six years, but it’s not something to take for granted.
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