The Iowa football team beat Wisconsin, 10-6.
By Danny Payne
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MADISON, Wisconsin — That was a dogfight. As always, we’ll have more later on today, as well as through the weekend, but here are a few quick hits from the second half. You can find the first half here.
- Well, that was about as Big Ten as Big Ten gets. Subpar quarterback play, great defense, lots of turnovers, and only effectively moving the ball via the run.
- Iowa will kick itself for turnovers, as will Wisconsin. C.J. Beathard had an ill-timed interception in the third quarter that led to a Wisconsin field goal. Joel Stave tripped and couldn’t complete a handoff. Faith Ekakitie recovered at the Iowa 5 when it looked like the Badgers were about to pull ahead. Iowa did nothing with that drive.
- It came down to a Badger drive that started at their own 47. After picking up a first down, a third and 7 with 1:10 left resulted in a fourth and 2 at the Iowa 16. Stave, you guessed it, threw an incomplete pass, and that’s all she wrote.
- As bad as both offenses were, both the Hawkeye and Badger defenses looked strong. Both quarterbacks were under pressure all afternoon, particularly Beathard. Wisconsin backer Joe Schobert was a nightmare for Iowa all afternoon. He finished with 5 quarterback hurries, 3.5 tackles for loss, and 8 total tackles, and he had a huge sack to force Iowa to punt with 2:57 left. His team couldn’t capitalize, but bravo to the senior.
- Penalties played a big role in this contest. Iowa had 6 for 54 yards, Wisconsin had 8 for 90 yards.
- Here are the final stats: