Iowa Football: Way-too-early game-by-game predictions for 2018
The Battle for the Heartland Trophy shifts back to Iowa City for a rare early-season matchup between the Hawkeyes and the Badgers. Wisconsin won the last meeting in Iowa City 17-9.
Wisconsin is coming off one of the most prolific seasons in school history and bring back a lot of talent from the 2017 squad. Most notably quarterback Alex Hornibrook will likely be much improved, and running Johnathan Taylor is a possible darkhorse for in the Heisman Trophy conversation. The Badgers have also locked up head coach Paul Chryst at least until 2023 as well. No reason to believe this will be an afternoon or prime time game, especially with it being in Kinnick Stadium.
Last year’s game did not fare well at all for Iowa, who had just come off a historic beat down of Ohio State the week before. Iowa only mustered 66 yards of total offense and a field goal. Credit All-American cornerback Josh Jackson for scoring Iowa’s only two touchdowns, both coming off interception returns. With another year to learn Brian Ferentz’s system, Nate Stanley will surely hope to have a better performance against his home state Badgers.
This will be an early marquee game in the Big Ten West, as well as the Big Ten conference as a whole. Iowa and Wisconsin have reigned at the top for most of the Big Ten West’s existence and this game goes a long way in determining who ends up in Indianapolis in September. Unfortunately for Iowa, this early in the season, everything will not be hitting on all cylinders quite yet.