Inside Slant

The Sports Xchange

September 18, 2018 at 11:17 pm.

Hawkeyes host Wisconsin in early West showdown

After getting through the nonconference schedule unscathed, Iowa begins Big Ten play with possibly its biggest challenge of the season.

Big Ten West Division favorite Wisconsin visits Kinnick Stadium for a Saturday night showdown that could go a long way toward deciding one of the representatives for the conference championship game in December.

“It’s a conference game. Every game’s important,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “They all count on your resume. They all count at the end of the year. Anybody that plays in a conference, which is just about everybody now, I think conference games do take special significance.”

The Hawkeyes (3-0) avoided slip-ups against Northern Illinois, Iowa State and Northern Iowa but weren’t exactly dominant in their first three games.

“I think the good news is, in this series, we kind of know who they are, I think they know who we are,” Ferentz said. “That’s the good news. Bad news is we know who they are. They give up 12 points a game or 10 points a game. That’s the challenge.”

No. 18 Wisconsin (2-1) stumbled at home last week in an upset loss to BYU and no doubt will arrive in Iowa City plenty angry.

With Northwestern and Nebraska struggling out of the gate this month, Iowa might be the biggest threat to Wisconsin in the West.

One of the obvious challenges for Iowa’s defense will be to stop Wisconsin sophomore Jonathan Taylor, one of the best backs in the country who rushed for 157 yards against the Hawkeyes last year in the Badgers’ 38-14 win.

“We just played an outstanding running back (Iowa State’s David Montgomery) two weeks ago,” Ferentz said. “I mentioned he might be the best in the country. If he’s not, it might be the one we’re playing this week. This guy is just a tremendous football player, too.

“It’s unusual when you play two guys of this caliber within a two-week span. That’s what we’re facing. They’re not the same exact runner, but I can’t imagine many guys in the country better than either of these guys. We witnessed this, how good Taylor was firsthand last year. He is really a great player.”

Iowa doesn’t have a running back with Taylor’s cache, but its pass offense started to click in last week’s 38-14 win over Northern Iowa after average performances by quarterback Nate Stanley in the two first games. Though the Hawkeyes were playing an FCS team, Stanley threw with accuracy, completing 23-of-28 passes for 309 yards and one touchdown.

The Hawkeyes struggled to move the ball last year at Wisconsin. That’s on the minds of Iowa players this week in their preparation for the Heartland Trophy game.

“We can’t ride the roller coaster,” said Stanley, a Wisconsin native. “You play great the week before and then come out and not play so well. At the end of the day there’s a lot of learning opportunities and you really have to look at yourself in the mirror and think critically of what you did and really take as much out of it as you can.”

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