Madison - Wisconsin lost control of the Big Ten west as it lost the battle for the Heartland Trophy for the second consecutive season.
BadgerBlitz.com has grades and takeaways from Week 7.
OFFENSE: F
You can point to Tanner Mordecai's injury all you want, but the reality is that Wisconsin couldn't move the ball even with its starting quarterback in the game. Iowa shut down the Badgers' offense for four quarters, with the unit looking lethargic for almost the entire game.
Wisconsin looked as though its offense might be in for a great game initially. It's first drive included a spectacular 42-yard catch from Bryson Green over star Hawkeye corner Cooper DeJean, as well as a fourth down conversion. But on the second fourth down of the drive, with one yard to go, Braelon Allen got stonewalled by Iowa's defense and Wisconsin turned it over within field goal range.
Iowa was able to consistently force the Badgers into third-and-long situations, which killed many a Wisconsin drive. Especially with a young quarterback thrown into the fire like Braedyn Locke was, that's not a recipe for success. The Badgers converted an absolutely dismal 2-of-17 third down attempts. They also had four straight three-and-outs at one point in the first half.
With a young quarterback in the game in the definition of a defensive battle, Wisconsin needed to be able to run the football. It couldn't. The Badgers ran for just 104 yards on 28 carries at 3.7 yards-per-carry. Allen finished with 87 yards and had some decent chunk plays, but couldn't consistently find creases.
The passing game couldn't compensate for the lack of a ground game, either. Wisconsin passed for 228 yards while completing just 54 percent of its passes between both quarterbacks. Will Pauling once again reeled in eight catches, but it wasn't enough. Besides Green's 42-yard catch on the Badgers' first drive, Wisconsin's second-longest play went for 18 yards.
Short yardage continued to be an issue for this unit. There was the aforementioned fourth-down stop, and Allen's conversion on a pitch play on another fourth-and-one was extremely dicey. That's a big area of concern for this offense.
Iowa has a very sound defense. But that was easily Wisconsin's worst offensive performance all season. The Badger faithful can only hope this is rock bottom.
