Wisconsin-Iowa: Twin bulls from different cows

Iowa's 14-7 win at Minnesota was major-college football's third-lowest score of Week 6.

Wisconsin's 14-7 loss at Michigan was major-college football's second-lowest score of Week 5.

Iowa's 14-7 win at Rutgers was major-college football's lowest score of Week 4.

America might say that's not entertainment. So Saturday's ESPN telecast of Wisconsin-Iowa might be of true interest in only two of the nation's 50 states. Anyone not from Iowa or Wisconsin who viewed the Hawkeyes' 10-6 victory in Madison a year ago may not be inclined to see another edition of that matchup.

So what?

One of college football's appeals is that, unlike the NFL, it has a panorama of styles and feels. If you favor shootouts, five Big 12 teams average over 40 points.

The Pac-12 is as wide-ranging as the geography it covers, with both the Big Ten-ish physicality of Stanford and the 50 passes per game of Washington State.

If you prefer execution and dominance with a scowl, Alabama's your team.

And if you like teams that reflect their locations, we give you Wisconsin and Iowa.

Football as manual labor. Brawn and backbone. Relentlessly trying to enforce your will on the other guys at some point between the opening kickoff and the end of the 60th minute.

Sometimes, when the Badgers and Hawkeyes are both where they want to be or close to it, you'll get one of those 10-6 or 14-7 eyesores (depending on the eyes of the beholders) when they meet. But it's not always grunt-and-groan without offensive artistry.

Two years ago in Kinnick, a superior Wisconsin team held on for a 26-24 victory. Both teams gained over 400 yards. The Badgers won a 31-30 battle here in 2010, and Iowa won the 2008 Kinnick clash, 38-16.

But even in those games with actual touchdowns, you still saw the big bulls of both teams trying to be more bullish than the big bulls of the other. As luck would have it, the traveling trophy for this game is a brass bull. Who'd a thunk it?

Over the last 10 NFL drafts, seven of the 10 first-round picks from Iowa and Wisconsin were offensive linemen. Two were defensive ends. Badgers running back Melvin Gordon was the skill-position outlier.

The Badgers and Hawkeyes still use fullbacks. They still rely heavily on tight ends. Those aren't glamour positions, folks.

These two programs reflect where we live. We aren't in Silicon Valley or South Beach or Santa Barbara.

We are meat and corn and beans and cheese, with a side dish of more meat. We aren't Olympic sprinters. The jet sweep both teams may use on occasion Saturday is just a play, not a description of their overall attacks.

The Hawkeyes are an offensive tackle from Webster City, a defensive end from Waukon, a safety from Larchwood, and a linebacker from Decorah. None had college recruiters ruining their lives with too many texts and calls.

Four of the Badgers' five starting offensive linemen are Wisconsin-grown. The Badgers have defensive starters from Milwaukee, Pewaukee and Waunakee.

These aren't America's teams. They aren't anybody's teams but their own. But they are comfortable in their own skin, and they know the winner of their rivalry game is usually a very good team that can point to this victory as proof.

The last three Wisconsin teams that defeated the Hawkeyes finished the season in New Year's bowls. The six best teams Kirk Ferentz has coached at Iowa — 2002, 2003, 2004, 2008, 2009 and 2015 — all beat the Badgers.

How this year's Hawkeyes do Saturday against one of the nation's consistently best programs will say a ton about how they are remembered.

So pass the summer sausage and cheese curds, and get ready for three hours of grunts and groans. This is our corner of the country's game. If it's too rough for everyone else, they can find a froufrou contest on another channel.