By Pat Harty

IOWA CITY, Iowa – The same Iowa offense, which at times looked borderline dysfunctional against Minnesota last Saturday, looked overpowering at times just a week later against one of the Big Ten’s best defenses.

No. 24 Iowa crushed No. 25 Wisconsin 30-0 on Saturday at Kinnick Stadium in what was described afterwards by Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz as a total team effort.

The Iowa defense did its part as usual by holding the Badgers scoreless, and to just 235 yards, but it was the much-maligned Iowa offense, led by quarterback Hank Brown, that seized the spotlight with arguably its best overall performance of the season, considering the perceived level of the opponent.

Brown completed 20-of-24 passes for 222 yards and two touchdowns.

He passed for 190 yards in the first half while throwing just two incomplete passes in the first two quarters.

Brown also led Iowa on a seven-play, 98-yard scoring drive in the second quarter, marking the the third time this season that he has engineered a 90-yard scoring drive.

Brown then spent the second half mostly handing off to his running backs with Iowa holding a comfortable lead.

Iowa finished with 362 yards, but that was partly due to offensive coordinator Tim Lester being more conservative with his play calling in the second half. The Hawkeyes were well on their way to racking up more than 400 yards until Lester sort of pulled back in the second half.

“It gives us a lot of confidence,” Brown said. “Today was an example of an ultimate team win, all three phases of the game.”

What makes Iowa’s performance on offense look even more impressive is that USC only scored seven points in a 24-7 loss at Wisconsin last Saturday.

The Badgers had momentum heading into Saturday’s game, but it had no effect once the game started as Iowa seized control right away.

“Well, that was an old-fashioned ass-whipping,” said Wisconsin head coach Luke Fickell. “It doesn’t feel good. It doesn’t feel good at all.

“Whether we prepared or whether we were not prepared, we didn’t play like we prepared today. They asked if there were any positives; and I don’t know that I could find any positives in the way we played, the way we performed.”

Wide receiver Tony Diaz led Iowa with 75 receiving yards and one touchdown as Iowa improved to 6-2 overall and 3-2 in the Big Ten, while Wisconsin fell to 5-3 and 3-2.

Iowa tight end DJ Vonnahme had both a receiving and a rushing touchdown and finished with five catches for 54 yards.

About the only problem for Iowa on offense was that it fumbled three times, losing one.

Turnovers were a huge problem in the 13-10 loss at Minnesota last Saturday in Minneapolis as Iowa threw three interceptions, including two by Brown after he had replaced Jeremy Hecklinski at quarterback in the second quarter.

But it was the Badgers who struggled to hold on to the football in Saturday’s game, losing two fumbles and throwing one interception, which was made by Iowa defensive back Jacob Wallace on a deflected pass in the fourth quarter.

Iowa showed some balance on offense against the Badgers, rushing for 140 yards after being held to just 90 yards against Minnesota.

Iowa also converted on eight of 15 third-down plays, while the Badgers were just 4-of-13 on third down.

The Hawkeyes also scored points on all five of their trips into the red zone, while kicker Cade Buhr made all three of his field-goal attempts, including one from 54 yards.

“You just watch the game it was truly a team win in all three phases,” said Kirk Ferentz. “The staff did a great job, I think if giving our guys a good plan.

“But most importantly, the players are the ones doing it and they really played well out there.”

Iowa drove to the Badger six-yard line on the opening possession of the game, but then settled for a 24-yard field goal by Caden Buhr with 9:49 left in the first quarter.

On second and third down, Iowa ran back-to-back running plays into the interior of the Wisconsin defense, but with little success.

And then when Kirk Ferentz chose to kick the field goal on fourth down, there was a chorus of boos.

However, those boos quickly turned to cheers when Iowa held Wisconsin’s offense to a 3-and-out on its first series of the game.

Former NFL head coach Jon Gruden, who works for FOX and was on the sideline for Saturday’s game, then was given the microphone during a timeout and he helped to further energize the crowd by leading a “go Hawks” chant.

Gruden was in Iowa City with FOX covering Saturday’s game.

Former Iowa tight end George Kittle also helped to energize the fans while being interviewed on the sideline in the first half.

Kittle, who plays for the San Francisco 49ers, served as the honorary captain for Saturday’s game.

The crowd would have more to cheer about when Brown completed a four-yard touchdown pass to tight end DJ Vonnahme with 1:02 left in the first quarter.

Buhr converted the point-after kick, increasing the lead to 10-0 against a Wisconsin defense that entered Saturday’s game allowing just 11,8 points per game in conference play.

The Badgers finally started having some success on offense in the second quarter, marching to the Iowa one-yard line before being stuffed at the line of scrimmage on a fourth-down running play in which Iowa State transfer Abu Sama III was tackled for a one-yad loss by linebackers Jayden Montgomery and Cam Buffington with 4:22 left in the second quarter.

Iowa then marched 98 yards for its second touchdown of the game, which came on a four-yard pop pass from Brown to Tony Diaz with 1:30 left in the second quarter.

The Badgers then fumbled the ensuing kick deep in their own territory.

Iowa linebacker Jayden Montgomery recovered the fumble, and then Buhr kicked a 28-yard field goal on 4th-and-3 as time expired in the first half, giving Iowa  20-0 lead.

The Hawkeyes would go on to defeat the Badgers for the fifth time in a row, while Hank Brown put to rest any questions about who should be Iowa’s starting quarterback.

Iowa also held the Badgers scoreless for the second straight game, winning 37-0 last season in Madison, Wisconsin. Iowa has now won five straight games in the series by a combined margin of 148-26.

Iowa has now held three opponents scoreless this season.

“I think it just speaks to the preparation of this team,” said Iowa fifth-year linebacker and Wisconsin native Jayden Montgomery. “We had a great week of practice this week preparing and we had great energy throughout this week.”

Fickell was asked after Saturday’s loss why his teams keep losing to the Hawkeyes by such lopsided scores.

“Again, I don’t know,” Fickell said. “We made an over-emphasis on it in the past, on the rivalry and what we needed to be able to do all through spring football, winter and fall. And then this year, it was like, look, let’s make sure we understand we respect the rivalry, we understand the rivalry, but we don’t over-do something that is going to pus us in a position where we play too emotional and can’t play 60-plus minutes. And we didn’t do that, either.”

With the win, Iowa has evened the series with the Badgers at 49-49-2 as Saturday’s game was the 100th game in the series, which dates back to 1984.

“The scoreboard looked great, but there’s a lot of things we could have done better,” said Montgomery, who is one of Iowa’s four team captains.

Up next for Iowa is a vastly improved Northwestern squad next Saturday in Evanston, Illinois.

It will be Iowa’s first time playing in Northwestern’s newly renovated home stadium.

 

Wisconsin 0 0 0 0 – 0

Iowa 10 10 10 0 – 30

I – Caden Buhr 34 FG

I – DJ Vonnahme 4 pass from Hank Brown (Buhr kick)

I – Tony Diaz 4 pass from Brown (Buhr kick)

I – Buhr 28 FG

I – Vonnahme 2 run (Buhr kick)

I – Buhr 54 FG