Iowa head coach Kirk Ferentz gives his key to beating Wisconsin
When Wisconsin and Iowa meet on Saturday with the Big Ten West division possibly at stake, there will be a matchup of two teams who mirror each other in a myriad of ways.
Essentially any key you could use for Iowa probably also applies to Wisconsin, including the key that Hawkeyes head coach Kirk Ferentz gave during his press conference earlier this week.
Both Iowa and Wisconsin pride themselves on the ground game and on tremendously strong defense. For the Hawkeyes, the initial focus seems to be on being able to run the football against a staunch Wisconsin run defense.
“Hopefully we can take a step forward this week,” Ferentz said when asked about keys to beating Wisconsin. “It won’t be easy. These guys are really good on defense. The run game especially where they average 55 yards (allowed) a game. 200 is probably not realistic, but we have to run the ball to have a chance to win.”
Iowa will look to run the football primarily with Tyler Goodson, a junior running back that gave the Badgers fits a year ago in a 28-7 win for the Hawkeyes. The Georgia native took 11 carries for 106 yards and a touchdown in last year’s matchup.
The Badgers will not only look to respond with their rush defense, but also with a running game of their own. Wisconsin running backs Braelon Allen and Chez Mellusi combined for 289 rushing yards in last week’s win over Purdue. Wisconsin held Purdue’s starting running back King Doerue to just 20 yards on 9 carries in the victory.
