Leshon Williams rushed for a career-high 174 yards in Saturday’s 15-6 win at Wisconsin.

It was the second consecutive week a Hawkeye running back rushed for more than 100 yards — Kaleb Johnson rushed for 134 yards in last week’s win over Purdue.

Williams’ 82-yard touchdown run in the second quarter was the only time the Hawkeyes got into the end zone in Saturday’s game. It was a masterpiece — a large hole created by the offensive line, followed by a stutter-step and then a stiff-arm by Williams.

Williams thought there were some flaws in the run.

“The coaches are going to be very mad when they watch the film,” Williams quipped. “I made it a lot harder than what it was. The O-line really opened it up. It was a big ol’ hole — you all could have run through it.”

The stutter step, Williams said, “was me making it a lot harder than what it was.”

“I just have to stay on my track and be patient,” Williams said.

The run, a career long for Williams, was Iowa’s longest rush since Tavian Banks’ 82-yard run against Iowa State in 1997. It’s the fourth longest rush in the nation this season.

Iowa has now had back-to-back 100-yard games for the first time since Tyler Goodson did it in 2021, and the first time two different running backs have done it since Goodson and Mekhi Sargent did it in 2020.

“We’re going to keep getting better, too,” Williams said of Iowa’s running game. “It’s just a stepping stone each week. We progress every week.”

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EMOTIONAL GAME FOR HILL: Iowa quarterback Deacon Hill completed just 6-of-14 passes for 37 yards in his second start.

Still, beating Wisconsin was a big deal for Hill, who transferred from there after last season.

“There were a lot of dark days in the (transfer) portal here,” Hill said. “So obviously it feels good to be part of a team here. I love my team right now, and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”

It will take time for Hill to fit into the starting position. He has logged significant minutes in just three college games. He is already without tight end Luke Lachey, and he’s likely lost tight end Erick All, Iowa’s leading receiver who had to be taken from the field on a cart from this game, for the season.

But this win was special.

“Yeah, there were tears of joy there,” Hill said. “I couldn’t hide it — there were probably a thousand cameras around me.”

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VIEW FROM THE OTHER SIDE: Iowa’s points came on a touchdown, two field goals and a safety.

It was, Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell said, exactly what the Hawkeyes do.

“That’s where I think ultimately you can look at it, they got a great culture of what it is they do,” Fickell said. “They lost their top player on offense in Erick All early on. Didn’t change exactly what they were going to do. They stuck with it. They knew they were playing well defensively. They didn’t have to put themselves in a lot of situations to take some chances.”

Wisconsin lost quarterback Tanner Mordecai to a hand injury. Mordecai was 12-of-20 passing for 106 yards when he left the game.

“It doesn’t look good for a little while,” Fickell said. “He couldn’t grip the ball. We’ll have to make sure we find out what the deal is tomorrow, see how long that may last.”

Backup Braedyn Locke was 15-of-30 passing for 122 yards.

“It was a tough situation,” Fickell said when assessing Locke’s day. “It wasn’t like we were moving the football and we didn’t have anything really established, whether it was the run game or making some plays on the outside. It was a battle, hard-fought. Gets thrown into a situation like that that makes it very, very difficult.

“I thought they did a great job at pressuring, keeping us off balance. I think we got to do a better job protection-wise to give our quarterbacks a better chance.”