Wisconsin owns line of scrimmage against Iowa

IOWA CITY — Iowa football has long built its reputation on not really disguising what it does or what it's about. A revolving door of coaches who face the Hawkeyes regularly will tell you that Iowa does what it does, and prides itself on doing those things better to find success.

That very much was not the case on Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.

Iowa was who it is and ran what it runs, but No. 10 Wisconsin was there with an answer basically every time. The run game, which had seemed to find some footing the last two weeks, was routinely denied by the Badgers' aggressive 3-4 defense. Running lanes were nowhere to be found, and the cast of linebackers seemed to be in on every run play the Hawkeyes offered up.

Iowa had just one run of 10 or more yards, a 12-yard run from Akrum Wadley in the second quarter, the team had just 83 rushing yards and Wisconsin won, 17-9.

'It was just winning early. Each week, no matter who the opponent is, we're going to try to win downs early on and force them into passing situations. I didn't even know that (rushing) stat to be honest with you,' said Wisconsin linebacker T.J. Watt. 'Own the line of scrimmage. As an outside linebacker, set really hard edges so they can't bounce out, certain things like that. And being really strong inside, and also really good flow over the top from the inside backers and also the safeties triggers on the run.'

Iowa (5-3, 3-2 Big Ten) could never find a rhythm on offense, and much of that had to do with exactly what Watt said: forcing the Hawkeyes into long yardage situations. Iowa converted just 2 of 13 third downs, and in those situation faced an average of 3rd and 6.

That may not seem like a long down and distance, but when the run game averages 3.1 yards per carry and the passing game is as inconsistent as it was Saturday, 3rd and 6 might as well be 3rd and 60.

Iowa doesn't normally face a base 3-4 defense, and especially not one that throws as many different blitz packages within that system as Wisconsin (5-2, 2-2) does. To ask the players, there wasn't any confusion with what the Badgers were throwing at them, either, so it wasn't any kind of fuzziness with the game plan.

The Hawkeyes just got beat up front routinely by a top-10 team.

'They're tough and physical, and their linebackers certainly play downhill, too,' said offensive lineman Sean Welsh. 'We really didn't change up anything this week. The focus has always been the same. We get a lot of the game plan in early in the week, so we get really comfortable with it. I don't think it was a question of being comfortable or not.

'I just know we need to execute better. It's just execution and it's details. It's a simple thing. It's not a hard thing. It's kind of blunt. We just need to execute better.'

PLAYING MORE WITH TEMPO?

Iowa couldn't find much consistency on offense Saturday, with five three and outs and just three drives that lasted eight plays or longer. Those three drives went for 31, 51 and 60 yards and produced three total points.

The two longest drives the Hawkeyes were able to sustain — eight plays for 51 yards that ended in a field goal at the end of the second quarter and an 11-play, 60 yard drive near the end of the game that finished with a missed field goal — came with a more up-tempo style of offense. It was those pair of drives only in which Iowa went no-huddle, too.

The answer to why that was the case wasn't really answered, but it was clear players noticed, too.

'We go to tempo, and we get a rhythm. Things start clicking,' said running back Akrum Wadley. 'I say if it works, why not keep doing it?'

Others on the offense expressed a lack of concern with what exactly Iowa does, as long as it works.

Wide receiver Riley McCarron said he thought it worked well against the Badgers because it offered an element of surprise.

'I think it just didn't allow their defense to get set today, and I think they didn't know what was going to come out of tempo,' McCarron said. 'We'll see what happens going forward, but obviously worked for us today. Honestly my only preference is whatever is going to help us win. Outside of that, it doesn't matter.'

THIRD STRAIGHT LOSS AT KINNICK

Iowa might have won nine straight games on the road, but that mojo hasn't returned with them to Iowa City for the last month-plus.

Since winning, 42-3, in the Cy-Hawk Series game against Iowa State, the Hawkeyes have lost three straight inside Kinnick Stadium — 23-21 to North Dakota State on Sept. 17, 38-31 to Northwestern on Oct. 1 and 17-9 to No. 10 Wisconsin on Saturday.

For a stadium experience that gets the respect it does around the Big Ten, not capitalizing on home field advantage is a point of contention for Iowa players right now.

'Our goal is to protect Kinnick. That's what we take pride in,' said defensive lineman Jaleel Johnson 'That's is our home. We hate that feeling of someone coming in and taking what's ours.'

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