The 3Cs: Wisconsin Badgers vs. Iowa Hawkeyes

BadgerBlitz.com's weekly feature, "The 3 Cs," returns for the 2023 season. The staff takes a look at one thing we're curious, confident and concerned about as Wisconsin prepares to face Iowa.

Staff writers Seamus Rohrer and Donnie Slusher each give their thoughts on the aforementioned topics for this week.

Rohrer: I'm curious to see if Wisconsin continues to explore its options with the ground game.

Against Rutgers, Braelon Allen tallied 21 carries, which was a season high for the tailback. Jackson Acker had 13 in relief of the starter, and made the most of his opportunities by picking up 65 yards and looking like a tough back to bring down while doing so.

Now, the Badgers still have Cade Yacamelli at their disposal, who flashed in the spring as a shifty receiving back. He didn't log any playing time against the Scarlet Knights, however, as the staff clearly feels more comfortable with Acker at the RB2 spot.

A big reason why there was little need for Yacamelli, however, is the rushing output of quarterback Tanner Mordecai. In the past three games, he has 129 yards and four scores on the ground. He's picking up yardage both off of option looks and from scrambles when the play breaks down.

The one-two punch of Allen and Acker worked well last week, and I don't expect Phil Longo to change much, especially with the extra dimension Mordecai has brought recently. Still, you must have tricks up your sleeve in a rivalry game, and Yacamelli might be one of those.

Slusher: I’m most curious in seeing how the passing game fares against Iowa defensive back Cooper DeJean.

He's entering Saturday after having caught an interception in each of their last two games, both against Big Ten opponents.

DeJean even played his best game of the season last year against the Badgers. Last November, the All-American finished the day with 10 tackles and a pick-six, helping the Iowa defense hold Wisconsin to just 10 points.

He’ll be the No. 1 priority for a Badger passing offense that’s still figuring itself out. Wisconsin is second-to-last in the Big Ten in passing yards per game, and have only three passing touchdowns all year.

They do exist in an offense that’s led by the running game, but Iowa will also almost surely game plan to stop the run.

If the running backs fail to perform, like they did against Washington State, it’ll be up to Mordecai to lead the offense to victory. That’s exactly what DeJean wants, and he’ll be ready and waiting.

The Badgers should look to avoid an unbalanced offense, as well as No. 3.

Rohrer: I'm confident that Wisconsin will be all over Deacon Hill on Saturday.

When it comes to his traits, Hill is an imposing quarterback. He has an absolute rocket arm which allows him to both throw deep and also put serious zip on passes.

When it comes to his production, however, Hill is much less imposing. In Iowa's win against Purdue last week, he went just 6-for-21 passing for 110 yards. None of those completions went to wide receivers.

Both these teams know this game will be won in the trenches. As they proved last week, the Hawkeyes have a decent shot to win even if Hill posts dismal numbers. Still, I believe Wisconsin's defense will take the quarterback's transfer to a division rival personally.

Slusher: I’m confident that Saturday will be a low-scoring affair.

I’ll start with the obvious — this Iowa offense isn’t great. Its led by a quarterback who’s only played a game-and-a-half of meaningful snaps, and two running backs who are both good, not great.

Oh yeah, and their offensive situation is so dire that the school’s now forcing coordinator Brian Ferentz to score at least 25 points per game or they’ll fire him. It would take a myriad of defensive blunders from the Badgers to let Iowa stick around.

As for the Wisconsin offense, its case for offensive success is greater, but not assured.

The Badgers had their first test against a great defense last week, and looked just okay. The Ricardo Hallman pick-six made the victory seem much more dominant, but they scored only 17 points on offense compared to Rutgers’ 14.

Mordecai was still shaking off some bye-week rust, completing just 54.8% of his passes for 145 yards and a touchdown.

Allen finished the game with over 100 yards and looked great. However, last year, Iowa did hold him to 45 rushing yards on 2.5 yards per carry on their way to a victory. There’s a strong chance this Iowa defense will feel confident once again against the star running back.

And did I mention it might rain? I’m not a betting man, but this game screams under.

Rohrer: I'm concerned that Wisconsin will cripple itself with mistakes that allow Iowa to hang around and potentially pull out a victory.

In last year's battle for the Heartland Trophy, Wisconsin turned the ball over a mind-numbing three times. Graham Mertz threw two interceptions, one of which was taken to the house by the All-American cornerback Cooper DeJean. The Badgers also lost a fumble, and wound up losing by two scores as they couldn't overcome their self-inflicted wounds.

On paper, I fully expect Wisconsin to win. Nevertheless, this game is always far from predictable, and turnovers and big plays on special teams usually go a long way in determining the outcome when the Cardinal and White meet the Gold and Black. It's also expected to be rainy and wet Saturday. Could a Tanor Bortolini snap sail over Mordecai's head at the least opportune time...?

Slusher: I’m concerned that Wisconsin’s offense will once again start slow on Saturday

Despite the Badgers’ early offensive success this season, especially on the ground, there are still plenty of acute concerns that could snowball into some fatal mistakes against a team like Iowa.

Most persistent this season has been Wisconsin’s inability to start fast on offense. They didn’t score on their first drive until their fourth game of the season against Purdue. They started out looking excellent, running tempo and scoring touchdowns on each of their first three drives.

The problems seemed fixed. But then they returned against Rutgers.

The first drive against the Scarlet Knights was actually going well, until it wasn’t. They made it all the way down the field, wasting few plays, before nearing the red zone. Once they reached the Rutgers 21-yard-line, Mordecai threw three straight ugly passes and the offense was forced to settle for a field goal. Then they didn’t score again until midway through the second quarter.

Wisconsin’s main objective should be to get Allen some momentum, fast. He’s averaging 113 rushing yards per game in their four wins, and finished with just 20 in their only loss.

It’s obviously much easier said than done against a quality defense, but I wouldn’t want to get in a dog fight against Iowa.

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