Twelve years ago, then-Nebraska athletic director Shawn Eichorst uttered this infamous phrase:

"In the final analysis, I had to evaluate where Iowa was."

What Eichorst was referring to on Nov. 30, 2014 was his explanation for firing head football coach Bo Pelini. Though the Cornhuskers took down Iowa in overtime that season, Eichorst felt that Kirk Ferentz and the Hawkeyes were winning on a more consistent basis.

The decision was clearly a mistake as Nebraska has recorded just three winning seasons since. Eichorst was fired three years later, but he's now made his way to the top of the athletics department of another Big Ten team these days - Wisconsin.

Eichorst has only been in charge since July, but is it fair to say he might have to make a similar claim to the Badger faithful? Iowa had great success over three of its four main rivals (Nebraska, Iowa State, and Minnesota) in the 2010s, but the one team that held it back from being a Big Ten contender was Wisconsin.

The Hawkeyes beat the Badgers just once in the decade (2015), but everything has changed in the 2020s. Iowa just wrapped up its sixth win in seven meetings against Wisconsin with a 30-0 victory at Kinnick Stadium on Saturday, and it was a win that just felt like a perfect depiction of this rivalry right now - Hawkeye domination.

This rivalry began to swing towards Iowa late in Paul Chryst's tenure, but ever since Luke Fickell took over in 2023, the Hawkeyes have owned the Badgers. It's one thing to barely sneak by in competitive games, but Iowa just continues to throttle Wisconsin in embarrassing fashion.

The Hawkeyes have now won five consecutive meetings in this series. The combined score over that stretch? 155-26. If that's not domination, you probably need a different definition for the term.

What made Saturday's shutout victory surprising was the fact that the stars seemed to align for Wisconsin to finally beat Iowa. The Badgers entered the matchup fresh off a 24-7 win over then-No. 16 USC, while the Hawkeyes' future looked bleak after a 13-10 loss at Minnesota.

Few people expected Iowa to score many points because of all the quarterback questions. It's easy to look back on it now, but all of us were pretty foolish for doing so. Kirk Ferentz has a tremendous history of getting his teams back in gear after a loss, and there was no question his team was poised to bounce back - and bounce back they did.

Hank Brown ran the offense with extreme confidence after a disastrous performance in Minneapolis, and once he began to settle in, you knew there was a very low chance the Hawkeyes would lose this football game.

No one will know for sure what offensive coordinator Tim Lester and Ferentz said to Brown throughout the week, but whatever they said worked to perfection. That's great coaching, and this is one of many examples that show how lucky Iowa is to have the coaching staff it has.

Shortly after Wisconsin finished its postgame media obligations, it packed its bags and made the three-hour trek back to Madison. The sun will rise on Sunday morning and the Badgers have a soft schedule that should allow them to finish the season on a good note, but the consistency that every football team hopes to have is still inside the Hansen Football Performance Center.

The battle for the Heartland Trophy remains an annual Hawkeye celebration until further notice.

Source: Yahoo Sports