Football is a game of injuries. Tell Kirk Ferentz about it. We are not even at the halfway point of October and the Iowa Hawkeyes are all sorts of beat up coming into their rivalry game at Wisconsin. While the Badgers love to beat themselves more than Luke Fickell loves to take timeouts with him into the post-game press conference, the state of Ferentz's injured Hawkeyes team can serve Wisconsin.
Tyler Tachman of Hawk Central did a great job of outlining just how depleted Iowa is coming in. He touched on the health of the quarterback, wide receiver, running back and linebacker rooms coming in. While starting quarterback Mark Gronowski is creeping ever closer to playing, Ferentz has not ruled out playing or starting either Hank Brown or Jeremy Hecklinski just yet. Oh wait, there is more!
Although wide receiver Reece Vander Zee has yet to play this season, Ferentz did not rule out him making his season debut on Saturday night. As far as the running backs are concerned, Jaziun Patterson and Terrell Washington Jr. are not expected to play. That being said, Xavier Williams could make his return after missing part of the last few games. Linebacker Jaden Harrell will also be out.
So with upwards five of six starters or key contributors not playing, Wisconsin might have a chance.
The health of Iowa coming in is why Wisconsin can win this Big Ten game
Here is to setting ourselves up only to be disappointed! If there was ever a time for Wisconsin to stop getting in its own way and finally beat a Power Four team this year, Iowa would be that opponent. This is a rivalry game at home vs. a team that loves to not score points. What could possibly go wrong for Wisconsin? The game feels almost idiot-proof, but Luke Fickell makes chicken mess out of anything.
Overall, this really does feel like the game where Fickell's tenure hangs in the balances. He probably already needed to be thrown out with last week's trash, but he is still hanging around for some unbeknownst reason. Of Wisconsin's three losses on the season, only one was truly unforgivable. It was at home to a Maryland team that was largely unproven. Alabama and Michigan are both of quality.
Ultimately, if Fickell cannot find a way to beat Iowa at home in a low-scoring affair when the Hawkeyes are this banged up, can literally anybody else on the planet coach this team? Wisconsin had a brutally bad Big Ten schedule coming in, but this is not some woebegone football program. Show some pride, fellas! If you do not like what Fickell is doing, you could call an audible like Jim Harbaugh did in 1992...
Everything is lining up for the Badgers to get it done vs. Iowa to win the Heartland Trophy, so go do it!