Wisconsin vs. Iowa 2025 Recap: Badgers Get Blanked by Hawkeyes, 37-0

The Heartland Trophy will be traveling back to Iowa City after Iowa’s 37-0 dominant win over the Wisconsin Badgers. It was lifeless, uninspiring, and undisciplined football on Saturday night from a Badgers team playing one of their biggest rivals. Wisconsin falls to 2-4 on the season and 0-3 in Big Ten play. What are the key takeaways? Let’s break it all down in our 2025 Wisconsin vs. Iowa 2025 postgame recap.

Wisconsin vs. Iowa 2025 Recap

Unprepared and Uninspiring

The Wisconsin Badgers suffered an embarrassing 42-10 loss to the Iowa Hawkeyes last November. After every spring practice this past offseason, every Badger player did 42 pushups as a reminder of that brutal loss. However, after all the buildup and emotional baggage that last year’s loss created, the Badgers came out flat on Saturday.

Wisconsin teams under Luke Fickell have been known to start slow and sort of figure things out as the game goes on. However, Saturday night was one of the worst starts seen under Fickell. The Badgers had two turnovers in the first quarter and added another one with 14:20 remaining in the second.

It was 17-0 Hawkeyes at the end of the first, and Wisconsin had no answers. They were getting pushed around on both sides of the ball, and Iowa was doing whatever it wanted. So far this season, the Badger front seven has been the bright spot. They sport great depth on the defensive line and have two great linebackers in Curtis and Alliegro. However, if you only watched Saturday’s game, you could walk away thinking that the Badger front seven was the worst position group on this team.

Iowa ran a lot of outside zone and inside trap running plays. Wisconsin’s defensive line was consistently getting pushed back 3-4 yards every play, and linebackers were filling the wrong gaps. The poor linebacker play was also in part because Iowa was pushing the defensive lineman into their lap.

The Hawkeyes finished with 210 rushing yards, and it really could have been a lot more if they hadn’t let off the gas. Iowa running backs Moulton and Williams finished with a combined 7.2 yards per carry and a combined 151 rushing yards. Wisconsin missed more tackles than they usually do and looked slow in their reads all night.

Wisconsin started slow and looked like the much weaker team all game long. Badger players looked shellshocked, and it shouldn’t be happening against Iowa on Homecoming. Going forward, Luke Fickell and the Badgers need to figure out ways to start the game off the right way and not fall into big deficits. Wisconsin’s offense is not built to come from behind. And with poor play on both sides of the ball, they are being forced to.

Offense and Quarterback Play

The Badgers were held scoreless for the first time since 2014. The last time Wisconsin was held scoreless against the Hawkeyes, you have to go all the way back to 1929. Offense has been a struggle all year, and Saturday was the worst it’s been.

Iowa has a great defense. However, Wisconsin’s offense on Saturday was as bad as it comes. The Badgers finished the game with 209 total yards, with 82 coming through the air and 127 on the ground.

There was no flashiness to the offense, and the Iowa defense flat-out dominated the Badger offense. After a spirited effort in his first career start last week against Michigan, Hunter Simmons struggled mightily on Saturday. Simmons finished 8-of-21 for 82 yards and two interceptions. He also committed a third turnover after a backwards lateral pass was recovered by Iowa.

Simmons looked like a completely different quarterback than the one we saw last week. He looked rattled and didn’t play with the same confidence and poise. He struggled going through progressions and never trusted what he saw. Some of it was due to poor offensive line play. However, most of it was on his own accord. Going forward, the Badgers are going to need to figure out what to do at the position, especially if Billy Edwards Jr. remains out.

The offensive line struggled again on Saturday. Dilin Jones finished with 16 rushes for 71 yards, good for 4.4 per carry. At times, the Wisconsin line was able to move people and created some creases. Other times, it seemed all five Badger linemen whiffed on blocks. There were some positives in the run game, and they just need to find a way to be more consistent going forward.

Badger’s starting center, Jake Renfro, was able to return from injury in this contest. With his presence, the communication seemed to improve amongst the line. If he remains healthy, the unit could see improvement as long as they can stay healthy and gain some continuity.

There were a couple of downfield throws, which were encouraging to see after having no such throws last week. Jayden Ballard had two targets down the field and dropped a touchdown pass late in the first half. The first play of the game was a downfield pass to Kekahuna, that he caught out of bounds.

Even though Simmons wasn’t able to connect on any passes downfield, calling more of those types of plays is crucial. The threat of the pass will help the run game out and vice versa. Wisconsin had a lot of eye candy and motion to begin the year, but it has really seemed to have died down as the season has gone on. The Badgers will need to go back to the drawing board and find ways to generate some offense before they welcome the nation’s best defense to Madison next week in Ohio State.

Direction of the Program

In Luke Fickell’s opening statement to the media postgame, he said, “Well, that’s as low as it can be. I apologize. I apologized to our guys. To not be ready, to not have them ready, I’m dumbfounded in a lot of ways. But that’s my job.”

Later in the presser in regards to continuing to fight and compete, he said, “If you don’t compete, if we don’t compete, none of us are going to be here. That’s the truth.”

Those are very candid and blunt words by Fickell on Saturday in his post-game press conference. Linebacker Christian Alliegro also stated that he feels the Badgers have no identity when he was interviewed postgame.

The Badgers are reeling and are in the midst of one of their worst seasons in program history. Coach Fickell has to be able to keep these players and the locker room in it, or the season could spiral worse than it already has. The Badgers are a proud program and one of the staples not only in the Big Ten, but nationally.

Wisconsin needs to find some sort of positivity and improvement every week and build with what they have. No one knows what goes on or what is said at practice and in the locker room. However, the product on the field has not improved recently. Coach Fickell and the Badgers need to find a way to clean things up and get things turned around.

Wisconsin vs. Iowa 2025 Recap: Other Notes

Play Calling

It’s worth highlighting the lack of original play calling and pre-snap motion from this Week 7 contest. At the beginning of the year, it seemed every single play had some sort of wrinkle or pre-snap motion. Now, it seems that OC Jeff Grimes has gotten away from that.

It’s understandable that Simmons was struggling in the game. However, it felt like the Badgers waved the white flag and conceded to some degree. It felt like, at times, they were content to run the clock out in the second half and not get blown out even more than they already were. My question is, down a couple of scores, at a record of 2-3, what is there to lose? Try some different formations or play calls. Throw the ball downfield to some extent. Simmons was struggling, yes, but it felt like a similar lack of urgency, just like last week against Michigan.

Vinny Anthony

Vinny Anthony is the Badgers’ best receiver and weapon on the outside, and very well might be the Badgers’ best offensive player. Anthony finished Saturday’s game with four targets for three catches and 16 yards. Wisconsin needs to do a better job of getting Anthony the ball. The offense does well when he touches the ball multiple times per possession. Jeff Grimes needs to figure out a way to get Anthony open so he can use his skill set to help the offense out.

Positivity

With all the uninspiring play from Saturday’s game, Mason Reiger, Daryll Peterson, and Dilin Jones deserve a shoutout. Those three played hard all game, and Jones was running harder than he has all year. Reiger and Peterson were constantly in the backfield and gave 100-percent effort on every single play. Yes, Peterson received a couple of unsportsmanlike conduct calls; however, his tenacity and fight were encouraging to see when he could have rolled over while getting blown out.

Looking Ahead

Where does Wisconsin go from here, and how do they respond? The only people who can answer that question are Luke Fickell and the players in that locker room. The road doesn’t get any easier as Ohio State comes to Madison next week.

Wisconsin will be looking to rebound and show some competitive spirit. How the game plays out next week will be very telling about how Fickell and this Badgers team are facing extended adversity.