The Heartland Trophy is up for grabs in an all-time series tied 42-42-2. Wisconsin (3-1 Big Ten, 5-2 overall) will be heading to Iowa City this weekend to face off against Iowa (2-2, 5-3). The Hawkeyes defeated Northwestern last week and held their own against No. 4 Ohio State the week before.
The Badgers are coming off their second bye week in October. Their first bye week was right after their 31-24 loss to Ohio State. Wisconsin came back then to beat Northwestern 35-6.
The last time that Iowa and Wisconsin hashed it out for the Heartland Trophy was in 2010 on Iowa’s home turf.
The Heartland trophy was established in 2004, but the Hawkeyes and Badgers have been battling since 1894.
“This is football. This is what I came to the Big Ten for,” redshirt sophomore Michael Caputo said. “[The Heartland Trophy] means a lot. When I first committed to Wisconsin they were playing Iowa in 2010 that was one of the biggest games. It means a lot to me personally: Because of that game in 2010 I got fired up and came to play here.”
Heading into November, a bye week can be a welcomed time of rejuvenation and replenishment for a football team.
Redshirt senior linebacker Chris Borland was injured in the Badgers’ last match-up against Illinois. Due to his right hamstring injury, Borland was only able to play in the first quarter of the Wisconsin victory.
Borland currently leads the Badgers with 35 solo tackles and 57 total tackles and is a semifinalist for the Chuck Bednarik Award, most outstanding defensive player of the year, and the Butkus Award, top linebacker in the country. He did not practice with the team until Thursday this week.
Borland is a game time decision for this weekend. However, Wisconsin fans should not fret. The Badger defense has been working in both redshirt junior linebacker Marcus Trotter and redshirt junior linebacker Derek Landisch. Redshirt senior outside linebacker Ethan Armstrong has been working in at rover as well.
On the offensive side of the ball there has not been much talk about Wisconsin this week.
The trio of running backs; senior James White, redshirt sophomore Melvin Gordon, and freshman Corey Clement will likely be the Badgers initial method of attack. Iowa has the worst ranked rushing offense in the Big Ten, but Wisconsin is ranked first with the help of Gordon’s 1,012 rushing yards this season.
“Coming off of a bye week its always exciting to get to the time where we get to go play, the kids are relaxed, we’re going into athletic environment to play a very good team,” head coach Gary Andersen said. “It should be a big time, a Big Ten Football game.”
