Wisconsin now heads into the final third of its regular season games holding the cards to win the Big Ten West division ... if it continues to take care of business.
UW (5-3 overall, 3-2 Big Ten) dominated now-No. 19 Iowa (6-2, 3-2) on Saturday. The program will turn its focus to Greg Schiano, Rutgers (4-4, 1-4) and a potential old friend this week.
BadgerBlitz.com brings back its weekly "3-2-1" column, highlighting three additional things we learned from this past weekend, two questions heading into Rutgers week, and one bold prediction for Saturday's mid-Atlantic clash (2:30 p.m. CT, BTN).
THREE ADDITIONAL THINGS WE LEARNED FROM THIS WEEKEND
1) It appears Wisconsin has its own turnover object. Welcome world to "The Grit Factory."
Collin Wilder walked up to a postgame podium inside the McClain Center after the 27-7 win over Iowa, and he instantly was hit with a question that set in motion the origin story for Wisconsin's apparent new turnover celebration.
So, a mechanic? That's what you were going to be for Halloween?
"Yeah. Y'all are already hearing the stories, huh?" Wilder said with a smile.
"Who would have thought a Halloween costume would turn out like this? Awesome."
The origin story of "The Grit Factory" added another chapter with Wilder, its creator, fleshing out more details as to how a $7 hat from Ragstock, a local store on State Street, with black Sharpie ink became the talk of Saturday's postgame interviews. The sixth-year defensive back explained that he and wide receiver Mike Gregoire found a mechanic suit.
"I'm like, 'I'm a factory worker from 'The Grit Factory,''" Wilder said.
Safety Scott Nelson divulged that the beginnings of the phrase came even before the season, further expanding its newfound lore.
"'The Grit Factory' is something we've talked about kind for a while," Nelson said on Saturday. "It's been going back probably half a year. It's kind of developed into a Twitter thing, something we say in our group chat, stuff like that, so it's kind of taken off now."
And yes, it has its own Twitter account. Wilder detailed how he created the account earlier -- with the first tweet dating back to mid-August before the inception of the hat.
"I made it to just kind of recognize guys fighting through adversity, digging through some tough moments," Wilder said. "I made an account to recognize that kind of stuff because some guys on my team actually look at it, appreciate it."
Before the three words became permanently written on the cap, Nelson (smartly) recommended that some practice should be done for how it would be seen. He acknowledged they "had bunch of takes on it, just trying to line it up as squarely as possible."
Wilder called out how Nelson and outside linebacker Nick Herbig came up with the idea to wear it when Wisconsin creates a turnover. The cap snuck onto the field with the help of one of the members of the strength and conditioning staff, according to Wilder.
Herbig, a sophomore sensation off the edge this year, emerged as the first to wear the red and white trucker cap after his strip-sack of quarterback Spencer Petras in the second quarter that resulted in a fumble recovery by nose tackle Keeanu Benton inside the Iowa 10-yard line.
Two others -- outside linebacker Noah Burks and safety Travian Blaylock -- also received the opportunity to wear it after coming up with fumble recoveries in that quarter.
It appears this won't be the end of "The Grit Factory," at least according to Wilder.
"It's being brought out next week, too," Wilder said. "I think it's turning into a thing, and everybody's on board with it."