MADISON -- The No. 16 Wisconsin Badgers withstood a second half comeback from the No. 18 Iowa Hawkeyes, retaining the Heartland Trophy with a 24-22 win inside Camp Randall Stadium.

As BadgerBlitz.com does after every game, here are five things we learned from UW's seventh win of the 2019 season.

It appears the week off helped Wisconsin resume its run game prowess. Against Iowa on Saturday -- which came into the game eighth in the FBS in rush defense (87.8 yards per contest) -- UW pulled off 300 yards on 6.5 yards per carry. That was much better than the 83 yards on 2.4 yards per attempt in Columbus on Oct. 26.

We will discuss Jonathan Taylor's game in a bit, but the run game hit not just with the Doak Walker Award winner, but also Nakia Watson (32 yards on six carries) and Danny Davis (17-yard jet sweep for a touchdown).

Perhaps the most promising thing on Saturday evening was when the game was on the line, the offensive line and the ground attack delivered on six straight runs to clinch the close win. The big play was Taylor hitting a key 42-yard dash to get into plus territory.

This re-emergence came at the right time for Wisconsin, as it now will face a Nebraska team that is allowing 173.7 yards per contest heading into next week's clash.

I will let UW's game notes do the talking here on a 250-yard performance -- which, for the record, marked the third time in Taylor's career he hit that mark or higher:

*In the fourth quarter alone, Taylor rushed for 135 yards. That included runs of 18, 36 and 42 yards. Iowa had come into the contest not allowing a gain of 20 or more yards on the ground coming into this contest.

*Taylor is the only player to go over 250 yards on the ground against the Hawkeyes "since at least 2000."

*Taylor eclipsed Ron Dayne as the Badger who has rushed for the most yards against Iowa in a single contest. Dayne ran for 216 back on Nov. 13, 1999.

Wisconsin, overall, committed eight penalties for 63 yards, but five of them came on either false start or illegal formation penalties. One came in particular on a 4th-and-2 in the first half where the Badgers initially operated out of a Wildcat formation. However, a false start penalty by David Moorman pushed it back to the point where head coach Paul Chryst elected to kick a field goal. Collin Larsh proceeded to miss a 31-yarder to negate any opportunity for points.

"We're thinking that we got a chance right after 'Q' [Quintez Cephus] gets a catch," Chryst said. "Thought it was manageable and liked the plan going into it. Took a little bit to get it in. Still felt good with what we saw -- and timeout was cause of coming down of the clock not because of the look -- and then [we] jump off-sides.

"Early in the game we had a couple of those. I don't know how it turned out, but we got exactly what you want on one. We have a procedure, that was on a third-and-medium, I believe, and I think that led to the sack fumble.

"There were some things early that obviously we didn't like. We had a couple of procedures. They called illegal formation, I saw it different. We were unbalanced, covering up the tight end. Some of those things we overcame because those hurt you. You get the 4th-and-2, don't get it, line up for the field goal, and we don't make that. That's hard. Against a good team, you make it harder."

Along with the strip sack -- the third in two games by opposing defenses against quarterback Jack Coan and the offense -- the junior signal caller also made an errant throw in the second half that led to a Matt Hankins interception. Iowa capitalized by kicking a field goal to close the gap to 21-16 with 9:27 left in the game.

"They came out in like a Cover 0 look and dropped out to like a Cover 2, and I just tried to fit in a pass," Coan said after the game. "Obviously, a poor decision."

After making just 4-of-13 third down conversions against Ohio State two weeks ago, Wisconsin responded against an Iowa unit allowing just 33 percent on the year in that category. The Badgers moved the chains on eight of the 14 attempts on Saturday.

Their average down and distance against the Hawkeyes was just 4.9 yards, while Coan completed 6-of-9 passes for 52 yards. Four of those throws went for firsts.

On the flip side, Kirk Ferentz's offense again struggled on that down inside Camp Randall Stadium -- converting on just one of nine attempts. Jim Leonhard's defense forced Nate Stanley and Co. to go an average of 7.9 yards to move the chains.

Fans and others clamoring for Wisconsin to push vertically down the field to keep opposing defenses honest got their wish on Saturday. Coan completed passes of 52 and 27 yards to Cephus, with the latter going for a touchdown.

"I mean, he just ran a fade," Coan said about the 52-yard reception from the redshirt junior wide receiver. "It was a one-on-one. He was able to get on top, and I was just able to put it in a spot where he could get to it."

Even before those completions, Coan worked to find the Badgers' leading receiver in the second quarter. Though the two did not connect on the throw, it drew a pass interference penalty against Iowa on a drive that resulted in Davis' first touchdown of the day on the jet sweep.

For the offense to continue to find enough balance to keep defenses off guard, this is a vital area to do so.

"I thought it was really big, especially at that point, if I remember correctly, we kind of had been backed up, and we hadn't really flipped the field on them," Chryst said about the deep receptions by Cephus. "In fact, early it seemed like we were kind of losing a little bit of ground. The first one was big, flipping the field. Like you said, we had the one that was going in toward the student section with the penalty. Obviously, getting them on the other one, I thought those were huge plays for us, not just in yards, but needed something to have happen.

"[Quintez] competes, and Jack gave him a chance. He means a ton to this offense."