A Wisconsin Badgers loss to Iowa Hawkeyes would set up historic 100th meeting

An all-time series lead could be on the line when the Wisconsin Badgers and Iowa Hawkeyes reach the century mark next year in Iowa City

The Badgers hoist the Heartland trophy after the Badgers 28-9 win over Iowa on November 2, 2013, in Iowa City, Iowa. | Rick Wood / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

College football, at its core, is about rivalries. Wisconsin Badgers fans know that all too well. Between rivalries with the Iowa Hawkeyes and the Minnesota Golden Gophers, fans of the cardinal and white know better than most where to find the most pivotal games on a calendar.

While the results of individual games are perhaps the most fun day-to-day, week-to-week, year-to-year way to experience those rivalries, there is another metric beyond one box score that lives in immortality: the all-time record between rivals. For some, what happened when the Badgers and Hawkeyes first met (a 44-0 blowout victory by Wisconsin) may not matter. But for others, claiming both the first and most-lopsided victory in the series are important bragging rights.

After winning the first six matchups between the Badgers and Hawkeyes, Wisconsin football has held the all-time series lead over Iowa for most of the rivalry's 131-year history. With UW's recent string of losses, however, that lead is at risk of changing hands.

Wisconsin football and Iowa football to meet Saturday for 99th time

Iowa defensive back Riley Moss, left, and linebacker Seth Benson reach the Heartland Trophy after helping the Hawkeyes to a win over Wisconsin during a NCAA college football game in Iowa City on Saturday, Nov. 12, 2022. Iowavswisconsin 20221112 Bh | Bryon Houlgrave/The Register, Des Moines Register / USA TODAY NETWORK

After 98 games, the Badgers hold a slim series lead over the Hawkeyes. Wisconsin has won 49 matchups, lost 47, and tied twice against Iowa. UW head coach Luke Fickell has yet to secure his first win over Iowa. Dating back to 2022, when interim head coach Jim Leonhard was at the helm for the Badgers, Wisconsin has lost three straight in the battle for the Heartland Trophy.

Following that inaugural blowout victory back in 1894, Iowa did not hold a rivalry series lead until over a century later. The Hawkeyes, near the tail-end of what would ultimately become a 19-year unbeaten streak over the Badgers, grabbed their first-ever all-time series lead at 35-24-2 in 1995.

In the two decades that followed, the rivalry's ultimate bragging rights changed hands regularly. Between 1995 and 2013, the Badgers and Hawkeyes exchanged leads six times. A stretch of relative dominance by Wisconsin, winning eight of eleven over Iowa between 2013 and 2021, has kept UW in control for quite some time, but Iowa could change that soon.

The Badgers held a five-game lead in the series as recently as 2022. That margin — the widest either team has held since 1987 — has quickly been erased. A win Saturday, and another next year in Iowa City, would deadlock the series after its 100th meeting at 49-49-2.

Wisconsin has struggled to beat its rivals and maintain generational bragging rights in recent years. In 2017, Wisconsin extended its winning streak over Minnesota to 14 games and took a lead in that all-time series. It was the first time ever that UW held the all-time lead in that most-played rivalry in the history of college football. That rivalry series, however, now sits tied again at 63-63-8.

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