By Mario Williams | [email protected]

The last time the Iowa football team didn’t score a touchdown against an opponent was against Wisconsin in 2013.

On Oct. 22, the Badgers defeated the Hawkeyes, 17-9, and stopped them from scoring a touchdown. The loss against the Badgers was Iowa’s third-consecutive defeat in Kinnick.

And while some of the players believe “there’s nothing wrong with the offense,” it certainly seems as if there is.

“Just a really hard-fought, tough physical game, like all of us anticipated,” Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz said after the loss. “Thought our guys really competed hard. We came up with some big plays that would have been helpful, were helpful, would have been. All in all, I just think our effort, our toughness, was good.”

One of the first instances of the poor Iowa offense came early in the contest. In the second quarter, the Iowa defense forced a three-and-out against the Badgers. But 15 yards of penalties and poor execution from the Iowa offense killed the drive.

That wasn’t the only mistake that occurred in Iowa’s loss. It was the same thing fans saw throughout the entire game.

Iowa went 2-of-13 on third downs. Coming into the contest, the Badgers were ranked sixth in the Football Bowl Subdivision on third-down defense. They’ve held their opponents to 24.7 percent on third downs this season (22-for-89)

While the Iowa defense wasn’t great, it gave the offense plenty of opportunities to be in good field position

However, the offense tanked and simply didn’t convert. In the third quarter, defensive tackle Jaleel Johnson sacked Wisconsin’s quarterback Alex Hornibrook on back-to-back plays. It certainly felt like it should’ve given the offense momentum to execute and keep itself in the game, but that didn’t happen.

The defense showed up when the offense couldn’t. The Badgers enjoyed a 37:02 to 22:58 advantage in time of possession as well. They’ve won the time-of-possession category six of seven games so far this season.

“The defense played their tails off,” running back LeShun Daniels Jr. said. “When we can’t move the football and get us those points, it’s extremely tough on us as an offense and as a whole as a team. Then we’re putting the defense back out there with virtually no rest. We have to do a better job on capitalizing on that stuff. We can’t let wasted field position be in the plus 50. We have to put points on the board.”

Iowa starting quarterback C.J. Beathard was 17-of-33 on passing for 153 yards. He didn’t throw a touchdown. His receivers were rarely open, and when they were, the ball either just missed their hands, or they simply couldn’t make the grab.

During most of the fourth quarter, Iowa went to the “hurry up” offense, but it was just a little too late. It seemed effective, but the game was already in the Badgers’ hands.

“We would’ve hoped to convert many times in the game,” Beathard said. “But it’s a part of football. You’re not always going to score on every drive.”