MADISON, WIS. -- Leo Chenal did not know if he was supposed to discuss what led to the exit of his fellow starting inside linebacker, senior Jack Sanborn, during the third quarter. However, he disclosed his "Death Row" member injuring his finger.

"I'll just say it was pretty bad," Chenal said postgame. "I'm gonna leave it at that, and he got it figured out. It's one of those things that he's gonna tell his grandchildren what happened, and I'm gonna tell my grandchildren like this dude really came back from that and he got a TFL right as he came back in, and he was making plays all over the place.

"He's a special guy."

Sanborn later confirmed the extent of his injury after Wisconsin's 27-7 win over Iowa.

"I kind of just slit it open so I needed some stitches and kind of dislocated a little bit of it," Sanborn said. 'It was a little ugly."

Wisconsin officially announced Sanborn as questionable to return to the game, and he eventually went to the locker room to receive "a few" stitches, as he described it. On the drive he missed, Iowa drove the ball 40 yards in six plays, scoring its lone touchdown to cut the UW lead to 20-7.

Sanborn eventually returned later in that third quarter, three plays into a crucial drive. Iowa drove down to the UW 41 for a 3rd-and-2, but the senior and nose tackle Bryson Williams combined to stop fullback Monte Pottebaum for a one-yard gain.

Facing a 4th-and-1, head coach Kirk Ferentz and Iowa ran another fullback dive with Pottebaum. Once again, Sanborn was credited with a tackle alongside safety Scott Nelson, holding the Hawkeye to no gain and a turnover on downs.

On that series alone, he was credited with three tackles (one solo), including a key tackle for loss on running back Tyler Goodson a couple snaps prior to the third- and fourth-down stops. He finished the day with seven total tackles (three solo), 1.5 tackles for loss, and half a sack.

As Chenal mentioned he would tell his grandchildren, will Sanborn recount the tale to his family down the road with how he came back into the game after suffering that not-so-pleasant injury?

"I'll just tell him it was Iowa week. I mean, what the heck? I'm not going to sit out for a finger.

"This is what you expect. You knew it was going to be a gritty kind of game, and that was just my end of holding up to the grittiness of it. I wasn't going to sit out. It was going to take a lot more than a couple stitches to get me out of the game."

Wisconsin saw right tackle Logan Bruss return last weekend, bringing back the starting offensive line to full strength during the win at Purdue.

However, UW listed first-team left guard Josh Seltzner as unavailable on its pregame status report on Saturday against Iowa, and redshirt junior Michael Furtney started in his place.

Furtney "kind of got the nod around Wednesday to be ready, 'This could happen,' and it was more around Thursday morning-ish where it was made more official around that time," according to the fourth-year Badger.

Officials flagged Furtney for two false start penalties in the win. However, redshirt senior right tackle Tyler Beach believes the Michigan native "did a great job."

"I don't think there was any changes in the offensive line," Beach said. "Last year in the Mayo Bowl, me and him started on the right side together, and he did a great job."

Beach did not believe that was anything different with Furtney on the line.

"It was kind of next guy up, and Furtney played well today," Beach said.

Furtney has played in all eight games during the 2021 campaign to date, according to UW's records. He has participated in 29 career contests heading into this week's cross-divisional clash against Rutgers. The Milan, Mich., native battled redshirt freshman Jack Nelson for the starting right guard position during fall camp and worked in during some previous games as well.

The 6-foot-5, 312-pound Furtney adds to Wisconsin's group of versatile, cross-trained lineman. He stated that he is "pretty confident at three [positions], and I could play the fourth." The one spot on the line he feels he could not play would be center.

"I think with enough work, I feel like I could be the next man up at probably the other four. More confident probably on the right two [positions] and left guard. Probably need a little bit extra time to work tackle. Tackle is just different than guard."

*Saturday's attendance at Camp Randall Stadium was 74,209

*Former Wisconsin and current Las Vegas Raiders fullback Alec Ingold served as honorary captain this weekend.

*Wisconsin has given up only 7.5 points and 180.3 yards per game during its four-game winning streak, according to UW.

*Wisconsin's defense stuffed Iowa's rushing attack to only 24 yards on 30 attempts. That total yardage "is the fewest the Badgers have surrendered to the Hawkeyes since at least 1997," according to UW

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