Badgers win scrappy contest, keep their Big Ten West championship dream alive
By Raul Vazquez | Nov. 9, 2019Rivalry football in November. What more could you ask for?
Rivalry football in November. What more could you ask for?
If there is one thing that each player said when looking to Iowa-Wisconsin, they continually referred to the matchup as old school football.
The Wisconsin Badgers are a well-disciplined, well-prepared, and well-coached football team. The coaching staff has a plan and they stick to it. But, on afternoons like two Saturdays ago in Columbus, Ohio, none of that mattered.
This game is incredibly important for both teams, as it could decide who wins the Big Ten West. Here are three keys for each team to win the game.
Iowa’s season seemed to be spinning out of control after back-to-back losses against Michigan and Penn State, despite their hot 4-0 start to the year.
The Wisconsin Badgers (2-0 Big Ten, 5-0 overall) offense was completely shut down last Saturday, only managing seven points in a 7-38 blowout.
The Iowa Hawkeyes (3-2 Big Ten, 6-2 overall) have had a good start to the season thanks to their running back Mekhi Sargent. The junior from Key West, Florida has put up some impressive numbers this season.
Wisconsin running back Jonathan Taylor fell out of serious Heisman contention after the Badgers suffered two straight losses.
Oh man it’s been a while since I got this here column space (two-to-three weeks, depending on if you consider BYE weeks a gap in the space-time continuum or not) and I just won’t try and recap anything that happened to Wisconsin football the past few weeks.
Most of the college football world penciled in a Badgers loss to Ohio State before the season and even after Wisconsin got off to a hot start, but no one could have predicted the meltdown in Champaign.
Wisconsin (1-1) took care of business in its home opener against Eastern Illinois (0-2), taking down the Panthers 65-52.
With just over 11 minutes left to play in the first half, sophomore forward Kobe King brought the 17,106 fans in attendance at the Kohl Center to their feet with an emphatic one-handed dunk over Eastern Illinois forward Jordan Skipper-Brown.
Eight games into the season, Wisconsin’s men’s hockey team sits at 4-4-0; a split in the first road series, a sweep of the home opener, a split at home, and swept on the road. Eight games into the 2018-’19 season, Wisconsin’s men’s hockey team was 4-4-0; a sweep of the home opener, a split in the first road series, a split at home, and swept on the road.
Wisconsin (0-1) looks to bounce back after a narrow 65-63 overtime loss against No. 20 St. Mary’s on the road Tuesday. The Badgers will kick off home play against Eastern Illinois (0-1), who also suffered a 71-59 loss against No. 13 Texas Tech in its season opener.
Coming off a promising exhibition win last Wednesday, the Wisconsin Badgers (1-0) continued their success in a season opening win against the North Florida Ospreys (0-1) on Tuesday.
Jordan Ford may have stole the show for the Saint Mary’s Gaels (1-0) with a game-high 26 points, but Malik Fitts put the final dagger in the Wisconsin Badgers (0-1) Tuesday night.
The Wisconsin Badgers women’s basketball team takes on the North Florida Ospreys in the season opener Tuesday night, after a dominating 67-34 win in an exhibition game against UW-Whitewater last Wednesday.
There’s no doubt there is an Ethan Happ-shaped hole in Wisconsin’s rotation heading into this season. The dominant big man averaged a double double last season with 17.3 ppg and 10.2 rpg as Happ was named to the First Team All-Big Ten Team for his third straight season, helping the Badgers return to the NCAA Tournament after the disappointing 2017-18 campaign.
The bad news: The Badgers lost their leader in points, rebounds, assists and steals from last season. The good news: All of that production came from Ethan Happ, who now plays for Euro League side Olympiacos.
Basketball season is back as the Badgers prepare to officially kick things off on the road against St. Mary’s on Tuesday, November 4.