Iowa Football: 3 Takeaways from Hawkeyes statement win over Wisconsin

Iowa’s defense is getting it done

The Iowa defense hasn’t given up 30 points in 27 games and you could see why on Saturday against the Badgers. The defense is fundamentally sound, hits the quarterback, stops the run and takes the football away.

It’s a simple formula, but when you have a coaching staff that can develop players, it works really well and that’s what Iowa has done.

This program may not be competing for the national championship anytime soon, but Kirk Ferentz puts together a product the Iowa faithful can be proud of every year.

Wisconsin ran the football 33 times for 56 yards in this game and if you can stop Wisconsin’s run game, you are going to have a good shot at winning. Iowa only registered two sacks on Mertz, but they forced him into a lot of bad situations, which led to Wisconsin converting just 4-of-18 on third down.

Iowa wasn’t great on offense in its own right, but the Hawkeyes don’t beat themselves and outside of Ohio State, it’s hard to say any team in the Big Ten is playing better.