Wisconsin vs. Iowa; which team has advantage at each position
By Pat Harty
IOWA CITY, Iowa – Iowa and Wisconsin often are compared to each other in football because they have played a similar style on offense and because both programs have sustained success while approaching greatness at times.
The teams will meet on Saturday for the 98th time, and for the 48th time in Iowa City, in a border rivalry that dates back to 1894.
This game used to almost always have serious implications when the Big Ten was divided into the West and East Divisions.
Iowa and Wisconsin combined to win seven of the 10 Big Ten West Division titles, but those days are gone, and so is any chance of making the 12-team playoff since both teams already have three losses.
But there is more to college football than just making the playoff, and this border rivalry still means a great deal to both programs.
To the winner goes the Heartland Trophy, while the loser will fall to 5-4 overall and slip further down in relevance.
This is a huge game for second-year Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell as he tries to lift the Badgers up to where they ascended under Barry Alvarez in the 1990s and early 2000s.
Wisconsin was in the midst of its glory years under Alvarez when Kirk Ferentz was hired to replace Hayden Fry as the Iowa head coach shortly after the 1998 season.
The Badgers crushed Iowa 49-3 in Ferentz’s debut season in 1999.
However, a lot has changed since then, including Wisconsin’s head coach four times.
“We’re a lot alike,” Kirk Ferentz . “They have more population, I guess, a lot of in-state players on both teams. I think Barry and I had some similarities philosophically about what it should look like, that type of deal. He certainly did it to a high level, Rose Bowls, Rose Bowl victories, and when we got here in ’99 they were the ones we were looking at.”
Iowa has won three of the last four games in the series, all by two scores or more.
Prior to that, however, the Badgers had won eight of nine games in the series.
Here is a look at which of these border rivals has the advantage at each position:
Quarterback: This will match two quarterbacks that began the 2024 season as backups.
Wisconsin’s Braedyn Locke vs. Iowa’s Brendan Sullivan.
Locke replaced Miami (Fla.) transfer Kyle Van Dyke, who suffered a season-ending knee injury on Wisconsin’s first offensive series of the game against Alabama in week three. The injury occurred when Van Dyke was scrambling with the ball and tackled near the sideline.
The Badgers would go on to lose, 42-10.
Locke has completed 102-of-177 passes for 1,281 yards and seven touchdowns this season. He also has been intercepted six times.
He threw for a career high 359 yards in a 52-6 trouncing of Purdue on Oct. 5 in Madison. That is the seventh highest single game total in program history.
Locke also played in five games last season with three starts for the injured Tanner Mordecai.
Sullivan, meanwhile, has appeared in seven of eight games this season as Cade McNamara’s backup. Sullivan had been used exclusively in goal-line packages until McNamara suffered his concussion last Saturday against Northwestern. Sullivan was inserted early the second quarter and he would go on to throw for 79 yards and rush for 41 yards in the 40-14 victory.
The 6-foot-4, 220-pound Sullivan has more mobility than McNamara, but Sullivan hasn’t started a game since last season when he played for Northwestern where started four games in 2023.
Sullivan has completed 11-of-16 passes for 94 yards and one touchdown this season. He is also Iowa’s fourth leading rusher with 76 yards on 17 carries.
The Badger defense will have to account for Sullivan at all times because of his running ability. He gives the Iowa offense a dimension it doesn’t have with McNamara playing behind center.
But Sullivan also has a small sampling size from this season, so it’s hard to evaluate him.
Advantage: Wisconsin
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Running back: The Badgers suffered a huge blow in early October when Chez Mellusi took a leave from the team to care for his body.
The sixth-year senior has suffered a handful of significant injuries during his college career. The latest was a broken leg he suffered against Purdue last season.
Senior Tawee Walker has become Wisconsin’s featured running back as he has 624 rushing yards and 10 rushing touchdown this season, while backup Cade Yacamelli has rushed for 274 yards and is averaging 8.3 yards per carry.
Walker’s 10 rushing touchdowns ranks second in the Big Ten behind Iowa’s Kaleb Johnson, who has 16 rushing touchdowns.
The 6-0, 225-pound Johnson also leads the Big Ten and ranks second nationally with 1,144 rushing yards in 7 1/2 games. He also has 20 rushes of 20-plus yards, six 40-plus yard runs and nine touchdown runs of 25-plus yards.
Iowa also has two dependable backups in redshirt freshman Kamari Moulton and sophomore Jaziun Patterson, who have rushed for 186 and 171 rushing yards, respectively.
Advantage: Iowa
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Wide receiver: Wisconsin has five wide receivers that have at least 154 receiving yards, led by junior Vinny Anthony, who leads the team with 382 receiving yards on just 20 catches.
Anthony is averaging a whopping 19.2 yards per catch and he became the first Badger since Jared Abbrederis in 2013 to have two 50-yard touchdown receptions in a season.
Junior Will Pauling, who started his career with Luke Fickell at Cincinnati, leads the Badgers with 38 catches and is second on the team with 381 receiving yards. Pauling and Anthony both have two touchdown catches this season.
Redshirt freshman Trech Kekahuna is third on the tam with 233 yards on just 15 catches.
Iowa, on the other hand, only has two receives with at least 175 receiving yards, but one of those receivers, true freshman Reece Vander Zee, isn’t listed on this week’s depth chart due to an injury.
Vander Zee leads the Iowa wide receivers with 176 receiving yards and three touchdowns.
Northwestern transfer Jacob Gill leads the Iowa wide receivers with 19 catches, and his 175 receiving yards trails Vander Zee by just one yard.
Sophomore Seth Anderson has played in the last three games after having missed the first five due to an injury. He made a diving 42-yard catch in the win over Northwestern and he has 71 receiving yards on three catches this season.
Redshirt freshman Jarriett Buie is listed as a starter on this week’s depth. The Florida native has three catches for 43 yards.
Dayton Howard, another redshirt freshman, has seen his role increase in recent games as he has three catches for 50 yards and one touchdown.
Advantage: Wisconsin
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Tight end: Fifth-year senior Luke Lackey leads Iowa with 24 catches and with 208 receiving yards, but he has yet to score a touchdown this season. The Ohio native is widely regarded as one of the top tight ends in the country as he has 62 career catches for 817 yards and four touchdowns.
Iowa is expected to be without junior tight end and Wisconsin native Addison Ostrenga for a fourth straight game due to an injury. In addition to being a solid run blocker, Ostrenga also has 11 catches for 63 yards. So, unless he heals enough to play in Saturday’s game, his loss would be significant.
Sophomore Zach Ortwerth and junior walk-on Johnny Pascuzzi are both helping to fill the void created by Ostrenga’s absence. Pascuzzi had a career-long 40-yard reception in the win over Northwestern last Saturday. He also excels as a run blocker.
Wisconsin’s top two tight ends are Riley Nowakowski and Tucker Ashcraft. Nowakowski has eight catches for 64 yards, while Ashcraft has seven catches for 57 yards and one touchdown.
This was a tough choice due partly to Ostrenga’s absence.
Advantage: Iowa
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Offensive line: There was a time not so long ago when the Badgers dominated this matchup.
Wisconsin is known for having massive offensive linemen that dominate in the trenches.
But the glow has sort of faded in recent seasons.
The Badgers still are good up front, just not as dominant as they used to be.
The five current starters all certainly look the part, with each weighing over 300 pounds, but the level of performance has dropped compared to Wisconsin’s glory days under Barry Alvarez.
There were times when Wisconsin had arguably the best offensive line in college football, but that is no longer the case.
The current group does have experience, however, with three returning starters from last season: redshirt senior left tackle Jack Nelson, redshirt senior left guard Joe Huber and sophomore right tackle Riley Mahlman.
Wisconsin’s other other two starters on the offensive line are redshirt senior center Jake Renfro and redshirt sophomore right guard Joe Brunner.
Renfro is another player that followed Fickell from Cincinnati.
Iowa, meanwhile, also has an experienced offensive line with four starters back from last season. In fact, the five starters have combined to make 153 career stars, led by senior left tackle Mason Richman with 47 starts, including 38 consecutive starts.
The fact that Iowa leads the Big Ten, and ranks 17th nationally, with an average of 209.1 yards rushing yards says a lot about the performance of the offensive line.
Iowa could receive a boost from the return of junior guard Beau Stephens, who missed the last two games due to an injury.
Advantage: Iowa
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Defensive line: The Badgers only list two defensive linemen as starters in their 2-4-5 alignment. They are senior Ben Barten and sophomore Curt Neal.
Neal has 15 tackles, one tackle for loss, half a sack and two quarterback hurries.
Barten has nine tackles, two pass break-ups, one quarterback hurry, one fumble recovery and one blocked kick.
Iowa’s four starters on the defensive line have combined to make 60 career starts, led by senior defensive end Deontae Craig and senior defensive tackle Yahya Black with 22 apiece.
Junior tackle Aaron Graves is having a breakout season in his first season as a starter as he leads Iowa with six tackles for loss and with five sacks. He also has forced two fumbles.
Craig and Black have 23 and 22 tackles, respectively, while the other starter at defensive end, senior Ethan Hurkett, leads the Iowa defensive linemen with 31 tackles in his first season as a starter.
Junior Max Llewellyn and sophomore Brian Allen provide quality depth for Iowa at defensive end. Llewellyn is second on the team with 3.5 sacks and he is tied with Hurkett for second on the team with five tackles for loss.
Allen has 4.5 tackles for loss and three sacks.
Advantage: Iowa
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Linebacker: Both of these units are experienced, talented and highly productive.
Wisconsin plays mostly in a 2-4-5 defensive alignment, while Iowa shifts from a 4-3 to a 4-2-5 depending on the circumstances on the field.
Senior inside linebacker Jaheim Thomas leads the Badgers with 52 tackles, while senior inside linebacker Jay Higgins leads Iowa, and the Big Ten, with 84 tackles. Higgins also has three interceptions, three pass break-ups, two forced fumbles one tackle for loss and one fumble recovery.
The Indianapolis native tied Iowa’s school record for tackles in a season with 171 last season.
Playing alongside Higgins is sixth-year graduate Nick Jackson, who played his first four season for Virginia. Jackson has made 55 career starts and played in 68 games overall.
The Atlanta, Georgia native has 56 tackles this season to rank second on the team, 3.5 tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, four pass break-ups and three quarterback hurries.
Jackson ranks third in FBS history with 520 career tackles.
Iowa should also receive a boost from the return of graduate Kyler Fisher, who missed the Northwestern game due to an illness. Fisher has played in 54 games and made five starts. The former walk-on is usually on the field when Iowa shifts to a 4-3 alignment.
Wisconsin’s other three starting linebackers are senior Jake Chaney, redshirt senior Leon Lowery and redshirt junior Darryl Peterson. They rank fourth, seventh and ninth on the team with 34, 23 and 19 tackles, respectively.
Backup linebackers Christian Alliegro, Tackett Curtis and Aaron Witt have 21, 19 and 16 tackles, respectively. Witt also leads the Badgers with 3.5 tackles for loss.
This decision sort of came down to quantity versus quality.
Advantage: Iowa
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Secondary: Two of the Big Ten’s top cornerbacks will be on the field Saturday in Wisconsin junior Ricardo Hallman and Iowa graduate Jermari Harris.
Hallman only has eight tackles and no interceptions this season, but that is partly due to opponents staying away from him. He was only thrown at one time in the season opener against Western Michigan.
And yet, even with opponents mostly avoiding him, Hallman still has four pass break-ups.
In 2023, Hallman started all 13 games for the Badgers and had an FBS-best seven interceptions. His seven interceptions were the most by a Badger cornerback since Jamar Fletcher in 2000.
Harris has started 26 games for the Hawkeyes and the Chicago native has eight career interceptions, which ranks 20th in program history. Harris has three interceptions this season, including a pick six against Troy.
Redshirt senior Nyzier Fourqurean is listed as Wisconsin’s other starting cornerback, as is junior Deshaun Lee for Iowa.
Fourqurean tied for the team lead with seven tackles in the season-opening win over Western Michigan.
Lee is among three players that have started at the cornerback position opposite of Harris this season, the others being junior T.J. Hall and redshirt freshman John Nestor.
Lee has started 10 games for Iowa and played in 15 overall.
He has gone from not playing against Michigan State on Oct. 19 to starting against Northwestern last Saturday.
“It was just a coach’s decision and we’re just focused on this game, this week,” Lee said when asked if he was unable to play against Michigan State because of injury.
Asked how he regained his starting position so quickly, Lee said:
“Just improving. Just trying to be better than the day before.”
Both teams are well stocked at the safety positions with seniors Hunter Wohler, Preston Zachman and Austin Brown forming a dynamic trio for the Badgers, and with graduates Quinn Schulte and Sebastian Castro and junior Xavier Nwankpa doing the same for Iowa.
Wohler, who made first-team all-Big Ten in 2023, leads the Badgers with six pass break-ups and is second on the team with 48 tackles.
Zachman has two of Wisconsin’s three interceptions this season and he ranks third on the team with 35 tackles, while Brown has 32 tackles, two tackles for loss, one sack, two pass break-ups, one fumble recovery and one forced fumble.
Schulte, a former walk-on from Cedar Rapids, will make his 36th straight start for Iowa at free safety on Saturday. He has 36 tackles, two interceptions and three pass break-ups this season.
Castro, who earned All-America honors last season, has 32 tackles, one tackle for loss, one interception, one forced fumble and one pass break-up while playing both safety and the cash position. His numbers are down from last season, but that seems party due to opponents not testing him as much this season because of how well he played last season.
Nwankpa, a former five-star recruit from Southeast Polk High School, has started 20 games and played in 34 overall at strong safety. He has 28 tackles this season, including a career-high 10 in the win over Washington.
Speedy sophomore Koen Entringer has seen his role increase this season, playing both the cash position and strong safety. The Michigan native has 16 tackles and one interception this season.
These units are very similar, which made this a very tough decision.
Advantage: Iowa
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Special teams: The matchup at punter will feature two rising stars from Australia in Sydney’s Atticvus Bertrams representing Wisconsin and Melbourne’s Rhys Dakin representing Iowa.
Bertrams, a 6-3, 225-pound sophomore is averaging 46.3 yards on 33 punts this season, with a long of 74 yards and with 14 of his punts downed inside the 20.
Dakin, a 6-4, 225-pound sophomore, has punted 42 times this season for a 44.8 average. In the second quarter against Northwestern last Saturday, he had four straight punts against that were downed at the 6,6, 6 and 5 yard line.
Dakin also has had 11 punts travel at least 50 yards this season.
As for the kickers, Nathaniel Vakos has made 8-of-12 field-goal attempts for the Badgers, while Drew Stevens has made 11-of-13 attempts for the Hawkeyes. Vakos has made all three of his attempts fom 50 to 59 yards this season, but is 0-2 from 40 to 49 yards.
Stevens has made all four of his attempts from 40 to 49 yards, but is just 1-for-3 from 50 to 59 yards.
Given how even these two 5-3 teams appear to be, Saturday’s game could come down to a late field goal.
Both teams feature explosive returners in Vinny Anthony for the Badgers and Kaden Wetjen for the Hawkeyes.
Anthony had a 74-yard kick return against USC earlier this season, while Wetjen returned a punt 85 yards for a touchdown against Northwestern last Saturday. It was his first return for a touchdown as a Hawkeye.
Advantage: Iowa
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