Iowa Hawkeyes Sports

Former Gazette Hawkeye beat writer John Steppe, now covering the Wisconsin Badgers for the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, talks with Madison Hricik ahead of the Iowa Hawkeyes vs. the Wisconsin Badgers in Madison, Wisconsin in this weeks episode of Hawk Off the Press. Steppe and Hricik discuss the Badgers this season so far, Gronowski updates, the Big Ten Conference as a whole and their predictions for this week's matchup.

Iowa football doesn’t know its starting quarterback for the first time this season, and it’s impacting how the Hawkeyes are preparing for the Badgers.

Ben McCollum’s first Hawkeyes team is slotted ahead of Indiana, among others. Iowa guard Bennett Stirtz is a preseason first-team All-Big Ten choice.

Big Ten football had East and West divisions for 10 seasons, from 2014 to 2023. Wisconsin and Iowa were the best of the West with the Badgers winning the division four times and the Hawkeyes three. Five of their meetings in that time determined the division’s representative in the league’s championship game.

Stirtz is a first-season Hawkeye, having transferred from Drake after being the Missouri Valley Conference Player of the Year there last season. He led the MVC in scoring (19.2 points per game) and steals (2.2), and also averaged 5.7 assists.

The Badgers begin an important six-game stretch with their home game against the Hawkeyes

The Hawkeyes watched the conference open up a little bit more during their bye week, but injuries are still a concern with Wisconsin looming.

The Hawkeyes have played five running backs this season, but none of them have all played at the same time.