Hawkeyes Get A Physical Challenge Before Facing Badgers

Iowa plans to be ready for the hits on Saturday.

The hits have been coming all week in practice.

The best way to prepare for what’s coming on Saturday against Wisconsin is for Iowa to have physical practices.

It’s not always ideal, but it sets a tone, safety Jack Koerner said on Tuesday.

Koerner pointed out to the days before Iowa played at Northwestern two weeks ago. The intensity in practice paid off in the 20-0 shutout.

“We had two of our more physical practices ever,” Koerner said. “And it carried over into the game. You do see it carry over. It carries over and makes us more effective in the game.

“It’s been a physical week in practice and we’re getting ready for a physical game. That is the way it should be.”

The No. 18 Hawkeyes have been impressively all season, but 16th-ranked Wisconsin will present the biggest challenge.

The Badgers plan on running the ball, and sometimes that includes an additional lineman or two to plow the way.

Wisconsin running back Jonathan Taylor ranks fifth nationally with 126.1 rushing yards per game and ninth in rushing yards with 1,009. He has 15 rushing touchdowns, ranking fourth nationally.

“I sound robotic saying every week is a big week,” linebacker Djimon Colbert said. “But definitely, we look forward to games like this, especially guys in the front seven, because we know they’re going to come out and run the ball. We know the linebackers and the defensive linemen love games like this It’s a challenge for all of us. And as a competitor you love the challenge.”

That has shown up in the Hawkeyes’ intensity.

“If it were the last game of the year, it might be a different story, and it will be a different story as we transition, but it's just kind of part of our plan,” Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said. “But that's how we practice. You play the game in pads, you practice in pads. We try to be smart when we get into November, but we just came off a week where we were really trying to pull back and let the guys get recharged.

“I think it's important this week that we fit our pads and we'd better get them fit really well and really tight because these guys are going to help fit them on Saturday, I know that. So we'd better be ready to go.”

There was talk last week about whether Iowa’s defense could be considered “elite,” something that defensive line coach Kelvin Bell and linebackers coach Seth Wallace said needed to be determined at the end of the season.

Iowa’s defense ranks third nationally in scoring defense (10.1 points per game), sixth in total defense (265.9 yards per game) and eighth in rushing defense (87.8 yards per game).

The scoring average is the best of Ferentz’s 21 seasons at Iowa, and the lowest of any Iowa team since the 1956 Hawkeyes gave up 8.4 points per game. The total defense number is the lowest of any Hawkeye team since the 1984 team gave up an average of 272.2 yards per game.

Iowa has allowed nine touchdowns in seven games this season. Among Big Ten schools, only Ohio State, with six, has allowed fewer.

The Hawkeyes are coming off a bye week after a 20-0 win at Northwestern. That game was Iowa’s fourth shutout in its last 11 Big Ten games. No other Big Ten team has more than one shutout since the start of the 2018 season.

“I’ve seen the numbers,” cornerback Michael Ojemudia said. “If we clean it up a little bit, we can be that much better. There’s always room for improvement. But the focus is to be the best. You don’t want to be top-five, you want to be number one. If we can clean up things and just be tighter, we can be better than what we’re doing right now.”

“Even looking after the game at Northwestern, we got the shutout, but we get into the film room and there’s just stuff that we’re still messing up on, stuff like that,” Colbert said. “Maybe it’s not big mistakes, but it’s stuff we want to get better on and want to work on going forward into the season.

“Yeah, I definitely think we’re on the right path, but there are things we need to work on as a defense.”

The Hawkeyes know stopping Taylor is important.

“We all have to be around the ball,” Colbert said. “We all have to swarm the ball. We realize they can throw the ball when they need too. But we know they want to run the ball, by all means.”

Illinois and Ohio State was able to stop the Badgers, so there is a blueprint — stack the box.

That will test Iowa’s secondary, to keep whatever passing game Wisconsin has in check.

“Yeah, but it’s what we ask for,” Ojemudia said. “We know if we have the linebackers on the run, and it’s just the DBs on our own, then that’s the formula. That’s how other teams did it. We know if we can execute to the best of our abilities, we should win this game.

“Illinois, they kind of managed the game and then late in the game went and won it. But Ohio State, they just loaded the box and left the DBs on an island.”

The Hawkeyes’ defense will have to match the Badgers, who have won six of the last seven games in the series. Wisconsin leads the nation in total defense and is fourth in scoring defense and fifth in rushing defense.

“Wisconsin, they’re not going to make mistakes,” Ojemudia said. “So if we dig ourselves into a ditch … in years past, you see it’s hard to come from behind. So if we’re mistake-free like them, I feel like we have the best edge coming into this game.”