Iowa Hawkeyes football expert previews Week 9 showdown vs. Wisconsin

In roughly 24 hours, the Wisconsin Badgers will be playing at Kinnick Stadium for the 100th edition of the Battle for the Heartland Trophy.

Iowa City, IA, plays host to this historic matchup, one that just so happens to take place on Halloween.

For the first time since 2023, the Badgers are officially in the AP Top 25. Remember, Iowa's shocking loss last Saturday to Minnesota knocked them out of the Top 25 entirely.

Heading into this massive Big Ten showdown, Badgers Wire's Jordon Lawrenz had a chance to speak with Hawkeyes Wire's Josh Helmer.

Iowa came into the year ranked No. 22, but just fell out of the AP Poll after a loss to Minnesota. Where have things gone wrong this season?

There's questions at quarterback, which we can discuss in a moment. But, Iowa just hasn't run the football consistently enough. That adds extra pressure on its signal-callers, and it's been an ongoing issue against Power Four foes. Against the power conference teams on its schedule, Iowa has eclipsed the century mark on the ground just once. That was in the Hawkeyes' 41-24 road win at Washington, where Iowa ran for 263 yards.

Losing someone to injury always hurts, but this is at least a team that has a ton of guys with 20+ carries on the year. How much of an impact does losing Kamari Moulton have on this offense?

Unfortunately for Iowa, I think it could have a big impact. Kamari Moulton has been Iowa's clear No. 1 running back for a ground game that has struggled mightily at times against power foes. Moulton has been the lone bright spot. He was also the Hawkeyes' leading rusher a season ago. L.J. Phillips Jr., Braeden Jackson, and Xavier Williams are all serviceable, but it's going to be a drop off for Iowa until proven otherwise.

The age old question is Hank Brown vs. Jeremy Hecklinski. Why do you think Kirk Ferentz keeps sticking with Brown?

Ferentz pointed to the intricacies of the offense this week when asked if they were happy with how they operated after making the move to replace Jeremy Hecklinski with Hank Brown at Minnesota. It's not a shocking response. That's some of what we heard during fall camp. The ceiling is greater in the passing game with Hecklinski, but it sounds like he's been mistake-prone at times, too. Ultimately, I think Iowa feels that Brown is less mistake-prone and maybe operates the intricacies of Iowa's offense on a more consistent basis as compared to Hecklinski. Maddening for Hawkeye fans to try to figure out, though.

Wisconsin’s defense just held UCLA and USC to 24 combined points. Do you think Iowa can shake off a brutal 10-point showing at Minnesota now that the Hawkeyes are back at home on Halloween?

I do. Ferentz typically gets a good response out of his teams following lackluster performances. This is a winnable game for Iowa, and the Hawkeyes are returning home to Kinnick Stadium which obviously helps.

Score prediction? Will the Heartland Trophy stay in Iowa City?

Iowa 17, Wisconsin 13. I expect this to be a field position game without a lot of offense. While recent meetings have seen Iowa win by multiple scores or in blowout fashion each of the past two seasons, I don't expect anything similar on Saturday. Wisconsin appears to be much-improved, which is a credit to the terrific year-over-year job that Luke Fickell has done. At the end of the day, I like Iowa to lean on its tried-and-true formula: great defense and special teams, and just enough offense in the right moments to retain the Heartland Trophy.

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This article originally appeared on Badgers Wire: Iowa Hawkeyes football expert previews Week 9 showdown vs. Wisconsin