College Football Week 9 Game of the Week: Wisconsin at Iowa
by Zak Drapeau
Sportz Nation - 10/29/2026
How We Got Here
The Battle of the Heartland will be coming to us this Saturday from Kinnick Stadium in Iowa City at 12 pm EST. The Hawkeyes and Badgers are both 5-2 on the season, each suffering both a home and away loss to top tier teams.
Currently, the Badgers are tied for 4th in the Big 10 with a 3-1 conference record while Iowa is just below them, tied for 8th with a 2-2 conference record.
With so many teams in the conference like Oregon, Michigan, Penn State, Washington and more having disappointing seasons so far, every game within the Big 10-conference is HUGE and this game could absolutely produce one of the final entrants in the CFP only 50 days away.
The betting favorite for this game is Iowa who is 3-1 at Home this season with its' only loss coming to Ohio State. Wisconsin has a 1-1 record on the road with a win over Penn State and a loss to UCLA.
Wisconsin
The Badgers are currently ranked #25 in the most recent AP Poll and ranked #14 in my recent College Football Rankings you can find here.
After a Week 1 home loss to an elite Notre Dame team, the Badgers went on a dominant 4-game win streak including a road win at Penn State. Their other 3 wins were at home where they outscored their opponents 121-22. They would lose their next game in Los Angeles to a still-undefeated UCLA team who is currently ranked #7 before coming back home to face the other team from LA.
Last week, the Badgers absolutely trounced the Trojans by a score of 24-7, with a defensive and run-heavy gameplan that went on without a hitch. Running the football and playing good defense has been Wisconsin's identity all year and in Head Coach Luke Fickell's 4th season, they've become one of the best at it in the country.
Defense
Their defense has really been the key to their season, ranking 13th in yards and 12th in points allowed. They don't rank highly in takeaways with only 8 on the season and are even around the bottom of the country in sack total with only 13 on the season or less than 2 per game. What they are great at is preventing big plays, with only 10, 20+ yard rushes on the year which is 2nd in the nation.
Their run defense ranks 7th in the country in rush yards per play allowed with only 2.8, and their pass defense is 4th with only 5.6 yards per play. They've also only allowed a 104.4 passer rating for the season and only 4 passing touchdowns through 7 games.
Offense
The Badgers' offense has been good at a few things and awful at others. They have only given away 1 turnover per game on the season which isn't elite but has certainly helped them win these methodical and defensive-based games.
As far as moving the ball, they've had some success running the football but rank toward the bottom of the country passing. Quarterback Colton Joseph has been the main weapon for this offense both through the air and on the ground and hasn't exactly been good at either.
Ranking 118th out of 138 FBS teams in total yards per game, the Badgers offense has really slowed down in the past 4 weeks as they've moved to conference play. The biggest fall came in their passing game which has averaged 128 yards per game in that span.
That 4 game span started with the team's marquee win in Happy Valley, but let's talk about their next 3 games, (still in conference play) against Michigan State, USC and at UCLA. In that time, their pass game dropped even more to less than 90 yards per game and just less than 17 pass attempts. They also haven't had a single turnover in that time and over 170 rushing yards per game as they've found their groove and settled into a slow, pound the rock style of offense.
Iowa
Iowa's season has been remarkably similar to Wisconsin and in fact when I mentioned that Wisconsin ranks 2nd in the country in not allowing big plays, Iowa is the only team above them with only 9 on the season.
As par for the course with both teams actually, Iowa's 2026 season definitely has been based on winning in the trenches. More specifically, unrelenting run defense and methodically moving the chains on offense.
Offense
Unlike Wisconsin, Iowa actually has two premier playmakers on offense we've seen them rely on throughout games and in crunch time. Tight End DJ Vonnahme has been one of the best Tight Ends in the country all year and has consistently been the Hawkeyes safety net when it comes to moving the chains.
The other top playmaker on this offense is RB Kamari Moulton. Moulton's season has seen very high highs like his 208 yard and 2-TD performance at Washington but has too often been bottled up especially in big games.
Moulton and Iowa's running game saw 2 games, at home against Northern Illinois and on the road at Washington, where Moulton totaled 37 carries for 391 yards and 4 TDs, (averages of 18-195-2). The other 4 games were admittedly against Top-50 teams, vs Iowa State, Ohio State and at Michigan and at Minnesota. In those games, Moulton totaled 49 carries for 150 yards and 0 TDs, (averages of 12-37.5-0). Those discrepancies between his best games and worst clearly shows Iowa's dependance on getting him going on the ground.
Their pass game ranks 84th in the country with 207.6 yards per game and has been severely hindered by the season starter Hank Brown missing a game and a half of the season. Even when Brown has been in the game, his 127.1 passer rating and 6:3 TD to INT ratio hasn't been getting it done.
Defense
With their offense struggling and too often non-existent, the Hawkeyes defense has needed to be great this season and they sure have.
Ranking 14th in the country in yards and 8th in points allowed, Iowa's defense has specialized in stopping the run and getting to the Quarterback. With only 82.9 rush yards allowed per game, Iowa has only allowed Iowa State and Ohio State to rush for more than 100 yards in a game this season.
Iowa's Linebacker pairing of Cam Buffington and Jayden Montgomery have been elite this season at stopping plays before the even hit the second level. As well as 4.5 sacks between the two, thse backers have been the backbone of why Iowa just does not allow teams to run the football.
Iowa has allowed 198.4 passing yards per game which "only" ranks 54th in the country and probably would allow more except their pass rush has been exceptional. Tied for 9th in the country with 22 sacks through 7 games, Iowa pass rush is led by DE Joseph Anderson with 4 but has been expertly diverse with 5 players getting 2 or more sacks already this season.
My Predictions
Wisconsin ML and Under 36.5
So we've established that both of these teams want to dominate on defense, play for field positioning with punts and then run the ball. With both teams having eerily similar game plans, being blue blood and proud programs, and that they've had almost identical seasons leading up to this huge Big 10 matchup.
The fact that this game will be in Iowa City definitely lends an advantage to the Hawkeyes who are the favorites in this game, but I am not so sure.
Both teams have well-disciplined run defense but Wisconsin's ability to run the ball with their backs or Quarterback will be their edge this weekend in my opinion. I also don't like how Iowa has only had breakout games running the ball when Kamari Moulton has faced worse run defenses or otherwise has been completely shut down.
I think it's very likely that unless Wisconsin turns the ball over more than once, that Iowa is held to 10 points or less for the second straight week and gives up the Heartland Trophy to the Badgers on their home turf.
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Make sure to stay tuned as we continue coverage of the 2026 College Football season.
-Z.D.
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