Iowa football dominates at line of scrimmage in blowout win over Wisconsin

IOWA CITY — The 72-pound brass bull that the Iowa football team joyously reclaimed on a rainy November night at Kinnick Stadium to the tune of “Jump Around” was a fitting prize for the Hawkeyes in a game where they were about as unstoppable as a charging bull.

The Hawkeyes (6-3, 4-2) dominated their border-state rival Wisconsin (5-4, 3-3) at the line of scrimmage and elsewhere in a 42-10 Heartland Trophy blowout.

“It was a great feeling just knowing you imposed your will on them throughout the game,” offensive lineman Connor Colby said.

Iowa star Kaleb Johnson, working behind an experienced (and healthier) offensive line, rushed for 135 yards while averaging 5.6 per carry. He had three rushing touchdowns — his 17th, 18th and 19th of the season.

“The thing I’m most impressed with is the approach, the maturity he’s playing with right now, practicing with,” Iowa Coach Kirk Ferentz said of his top running back. “He’s like that all week long. He’s hard to bring down. He doesn’t go down with an arm tackle. A credit to him. Hes’ really figured out what he has.”

The Hawkeyes as a whole finished with 329 rushing yards, including 152 before halftime. It was Iowa’s highest single-game rushing total against any team since 2015 and its highest total against Wisconsin since 1990.

“Whenever you can run the ball on a team, that’s really just taking the will out of them, honestly,” wide receiver Jacob Gill said. “So we went out there, and we executed. We punched them in the mouth from the start.”

Johnson was far from the only running back to find open space against Wisconsin’s defense. Kamari Moulton had 30 and 18-yard carries, and Jaziun Patterson had a 16-yard carry and a 4-yard touchdown run.

Quarterback Brendan Sullivan, making his first start as a Hawkeye, was 7-of-10 for 93 yards with a touchdown pass to Gill. It was a special moment, as Sullivan and Gill have been roommates and also were teammates at Northwestern.

“That’s something that we’ve prayed about, something we’ve talked about since we got to Northwestern,” Sullivan said. “We haven’t connected on one before.”

The bulk of Sullivan’s passing yards came on a 52-yard completion to tight end Zach Ortwerth — Iowa’s longest passing play of the season.

Sullivan also made a notable impact on the ground, as he had 58 rushing yards on nine attempts. He had a rushing touchdown on a well-executed quarterback sneak in the second quarter.

Iowa’s dominance, particularly on the ground, was a clear contrast from Wisconsin’s mere 124 rushing yards on 28 attempts. Iowa held Wisconsin’s No. 1 running back Tawee Walker to 52 yards — well below his season average of 89 before Saturday.

“Obviously everybody knows that Iowa is going to make it hard to (run the ball),” Wisconsin Coach Luke Fickell said. “We thought we had a good plan coming in and the ability to create some seams and find ways to loosen them up a bit, and we were not able to do that tonight.”

The Badgers were not any better in the air, as Braedyn Locke went 15-for-29 with two interceptions. Iowa cornerback Deshaun Lee’s pick was the first of his college career and set up an Iowa touchdown drive.

Iowa linebacker Nick Jackson had the other interception, which he initially deflected and kicked. It then went off teammate Brian Allen before landing in Jackson’s arms for an interception.

“I didn’t quite see the footwork that he used; I just saw that on a highlight,” Ferentz said. “It was a good play. I didn’t know it was that good of a play. A little different and unique.”

Like Lee’s pick, Jackson’s set up an Iowa touchdown drive.

The complementary football — with Iowa’s defense forcing turnovers and the offense taking advantage — helped the Hawkeyes put up 40-plus points for the third time in the last four games.

“It was a complete team win for us,” Ferentz said.

The Hawkeyes have now won three consecutive Heartland Trophy games — Iowa’s longest streak against Wisconsin since it won four straight from 2002-05.

“There’s going to be a lot of guys, myself included, that need to look in the mirror and really kind of evaluate where they are and what they’re willing to do to move forward,” Wisconsin’s Fickell said.

The 32-point margin of victory was Iowa’s largest against Wisconsin since 1968, when the Hawkeyes pulled off a 41-0 rout.

“Yeah, I didn’t see this thing coming tonight,” Ferentz said. “Sometimes that just happens where things start clicking a little bit. Just got to give our guys credit because they really came ready to go.”

Iowa will not have much time to dwell on its dominant reclamation of the brass bull, as it travels to UCLA next week for a Friday night game at the Rose Bowl. The Bruins (3-5, 2-4) are coming off a 27-20 win at Nebraska.

“We’ll have a big challenge getting ready for next week, but we’ll enjoy this one tonight,” Ferentz said.

Comments: john.steppe@thegazette.com

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