Leshon Williams carried Iowa’s offense in a 15-6 win at Wisconsin
The junior running back from Iowa had 174 rushing yards on 25 carries, including an 82-yard touchdown. He gave great support to the offensive line.
MADISON, Wis. – From the first possession of the game on Saturday, Iowa’s plan to beat Wisconsin was crystal clear.
Let the ball run. A lot. Don’t let Deacon Hill make mistakes. And put the game on the shoulders of Phil Parker’s defense and the right leg of player Tory Taylor.
The strategy unfolded to ugly perfection for the imperfect Hawkeyes, who defeated the Badgers 15-6, secured their first victory at Camp Randall Stadium since 2015 and, almost unbelievably, seized control of the Big Ten West.
This was similar to the 2015 game in which Iowa threw for 77 yards but managed enough on the ground to score the points needed for a 10-6 win. Drew Ott famously said after that game that the defense knew Wisconsin couldn’t win if it didn’t score. This Iowa defense seemed to take the same approach.
“A defense’s dream,” said Iowa linebacker Jay Higgins, who led the team with 13 tackles. “We went out and fought the whole game.”
More: Iowa football takes control of the Big Ten West with physical victory over Wisconsin
In this game, Leshon Williams carried the Hawkeyes on offense. His 82-yard touchdown run in the second quarter stunned the stadium and gave the visitors control of a game they were expected to lose as 10-point underdogs. Williams finished the day with 174 rushing yards on 25 hard-hitting runs.
“We wanted to rip their hearts out, and we did that today,” Williams said. “They’ve seen the running game work, so why step away from it?”
In his return to Camp Randall, Wisconsin transfer Hill completed 6 of 14 passes for 37 yards. However, he failed to lose the ball, although some of his deflected passes came dangerously close to being intercepted.
The Hawkeyes’ defense was outstanding and seemed to benefit from the game being on their side of the ball. Kirk Ferentz refused to call passes for almost the entire second half. Hill attempted only four passes in the third quarter and none in the fourth.
Taylor was incredible. His booming punts mesmerized the crowd of 76,205. With Iowa clinging to a 7-6 lead in the third quarter and the Iowa offense struggling with six consecutive three-and-outs, Taylor launched a 60-yard punt that was blocked by Chimere Dike and picked up by Wisconsin at their own 6 -Yard space was tied up line. That proved to be a big moment to help Iowa turn around its struggling, ineffective offense.
Kirk Ferentz is grateful for Tory Taylor after Iowa’s win over Wisconsin
Ferentz has 192 wins at Iowa, the last being a 15-6 triumph over Wisconsin. Here he talks about how the Hawkeyes got the win.
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Finally, Iowa took a short field on the punt exchange and converted it into points. A 48-yard field goal by Drew Stevens sailed through the uprights with 13:08 to play, and the Hawkeyes now had to allow a touchdown to lose this one.
On Wisconsin’s ensuing drive, poor field position forced a third-and-long that turned into a safety with 12:15 left when Yahya Black and Sebastian Castro tackled backup quarterback Braedyn Locke, who made a mistake. But a Wisconsin lineman pounced on the loose pigskin and scored two Iowa points instead of seven. That certainly made for a nervous ending.
But two Wisconsin drives later, Aaron Graves secured the decisive victory with a crushing hit against Locke with 3:01 minutes left. Higgins pounced on the ball at the Wisconsin 39-yard line. This set up Stevens’ second field goal of the fourth quarter, a 40-yarder that gave the Hawkeyes the victory with 1:55 left.
The Hawkeyes called for a running play on nine of their first 10 plays. They finished with exactly 200 yards of ground clearance.
“We didn’t want to be reckless or careless,” head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “We thought given the way things were going, we felt like the way we played was pretty smart. “If you lose, it’s not that bad. But you kind of adapt to the feel of the game.”
Ferentz’s instincts proved correct. They entered with an overall mark of 6-1, 3-1 in Big Ten play and one more rivalry game: Saturday, 2:30 p.m. against Minnesota at Kinnick Stadium.
“It doesn’t mean anything if it goes downhill from here,” Higgins said. “Every game is just as important as the last.”
Taylor struck out 10 times for 506 yards, a 50.6 average. He may have been the game’s MVP for Iowa, but Williams on offense and Castro on defense (his interception with 38 seconds left clinched the win) were spot-on and played great in a hostile environment. How cool was that? Williams and Castro (who turned 23 on Saturday) both attended Richards High School in Chicago.
Wisconsin (4-2, 2-1) next travels to Illinois and then hosts No. 3 Ohio State. Assuming the Badgers lose at least one more game, Iowa would need to win four of its final five games to clinch the Big To secure the Ten West title.
What a special moment this was for Hill.
In this case, don’t worry about the statistics. He did what he needed to do to get out of the way and let the defense cook.
After the game, special assistant Jon Budmayr came down from the press box and hugged Hill. Budmayr played for the Badgers, was the Badgers’ quarterbacks coach and is now a special assistant to head coach Kirk Ferentz at Iowa. He recruited Hill to Wisconsin. Now they are together on the winning side against the Badgers.
“I didn’t expect him to come out of the penalty area so quickly. “He was the first one to hug me,” Hill said. “He was like, ‘We did it.’ Let’s just keep pushing this thing forward. We still have a lot of season ahead of us.’”
Former Badger Deacon Hill broke down in tears after Iowa’s win in Madison
The Hawkeyes’ quarterback threw for just 37 yards, but Iowa had no turnovers in a 15-6 win.
Meet the “Air Raid” Badgers
Wisconsin called for a pass play on 14 of its first 17 snaps of the game, which undoubtedly marked a new era for the “Air Raid” Badgers in this matchup. That seemed odd considering the Badgers entered Saturday as the Big Ten’s leading scorer and had great running back Braelon Allen on their side.
Wisconsin was happy with a day of high winds (17 mph at kickoff) to put the game on Tanner Mordecai’s right arm. Mordecai completed 12 of 20 passes for 106 yards and rushed four times for eight yards before exiting the game late in the first half due to injury. He didn’t return. The Badgers’ offense was booed by their fans while their offensive woes continued. Wisconsin had eight drives and no points in the first half.
Iowa’s Jay Higgins celebrates victory over Wisconsin
The Hawkeyes linebacker had a crucial fumble recovery late and finished the game with 13 tackles in a 15-6 win.
Perhaps the Mordecai injury was a brief blessing for the Badgers, who were forced to turn to backup quarterback Braedyn Locke… and a heavier dose of Allen. On their first drive of the second half, Allen rushed four times for 16 yards and caught a shovel pass for 12 yards on third-and-4. This and a questionable flag by Ethan Hurkett that roughed up the passer led to a 36-yard field goal by Nathanial Vakos.
On Wisconsin’s next drive, Allen really got going, running 18 and 12 yards on consecutive plays, setting up a 52-yard field goal by Vakos and cutting the lead to 7-6 with 3:58 left in the third quarter. But after that, Iowa’s defense controlled things. Allen rushed for 87 yards on 18 carries, but only 15 yards on his final six attempts.
Wisconsin rushed for just five yards in the fourth quarter; Iowa stormed to 44.
“For me, the key to the game continued to be keeping (Allen) under control because he’s a really good football player,” Ferentz said.
Higgins noted that fellow linebacker Nick Jackson, a transfer from Virginia, was familiar with Wisconsin offensive coordinator Phil Longo from his time at North Carolina. Iowa’s defense certainly seemed to be in tune.
The Wisconsin passers finished the game 27:50 for 228 yards and two turnovers.
And once again the ground game dominates in the fight for the Heartland Trophy. When asked if the old approach was better than the new, Ferentz deciphered a wonderful answer, even pointing to Iowa’s 12-10 win over Michigan in 1985, a No. 1 vs. No. 2 battle between Iowa’s Chuck Long and Jim Harbaugh from Michigan to special teams and defense.
“You have to play defensively. “That’s where it starts,” Ferentz said. “You can’t be sloppy with football and we didn’t do that today.” If you play well in the kicking game and run the ball successfully, you have a shot. These are basics, it’s been like this for 100 years.
“When you watch big games, it usually still comes down to that.”
Third descent and… finally!
The Hawkeyes’ abysmal third-down rate this year (27% for the upcoming season, even worse: 17% in Big Ten play) was something to keep an eye on. And on third-and-2 from its own 18-yard line in the second quarter, Iowa converted one…in a big way.
The direct handoff to Leshon Williams looked easy, but what made the run explode was the stutter step in the hole. Williams’ hesitation seemed to affect Wisconsin’s timing on defense. That also gave fullback Hayden Large time to squeeze inside linebacker Jordan Turner and turn him to the outside, giving Williams a wall on his right side. Williams showed quick acceleration to burst through the opening, then suddenly he was surrounded by green turf.
Safety Austin Brown had an angle on Williams, who veered toward the right boundary. But Williams’ strong, stiff arm knocked Brown to the ground and he was in free fall. Cornerback Ricardo Hallman tried to track down Williams, but the 5-foot-10, 200-pound junior ended the run by rolling into the end zone while keeping his feet for an 82-yard touchdown with 11:49 left the first half. Stevens’ PAT gave Iowa a 7-0 lead, and at that point the score was 4-7 on third downs.
Williams said offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz made it a point for defenders to remain patient when holes appeared on the offensive line.
“Brian sat down with us and felt like we left a lot of yards on the field because we were too quick (to the ball) and missed a few cuts,” Williams said. “Today our goal was to be patient. We have to let the guys at the front work.”
Williams had great things to say about an offensive line that struggled mightily in Week 4 at Penn State and struggled again with run blocking in the home win against Michigan State in Week 5. The run blocking looked better against Purdue and even better on Saturday.
“They are doing a great job. “Every week they get better,” Williams said. “These guys work hard.” Today was a big challenge for them and they rose to the challenge. They got their way. They were the underdogs, we were the underdogs. The hard work they put in showed and we got our way.
This was the most rushing yards Iowa had against Wisconsin since 2008, when Shonn Greene threw for four touchdowns against the Badgers. And get this: Iowa even won the possession battle 30-33, Wisconsin 29-27.
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Erick The final key, Hawkeye, is injured
During a timeout late in the first quarter, injured Hawkeye co-captains Cade McNamara and Luke Lachey stuck their heads in the Iowa injury tent. That was symbolic, considering these are arguably Iowa’s two most valuable offensive players, both of whom are opting out of the season… and we’re looking at the next best offensive player, tight end Erick All, who came in last.
All suffered a right knee injury while making a 5-yard catch at the 4:27 mark of the first quarter. The Michigan transfer is Iowa’s leading receiver and had five of Iowa’s six catches against Purdue for 97 yards the week before. Everyone left the tent on crutches and never returned.
An already struggling offense has now lost another key player. Additionally, No. 3 tight end Addison Ostrenga missed the game due to injury. That left the Hawkeyes with only tight ends No. 4-6 left for the rest of the game: Steve Stilianos, Johnny Pascuzzi and true freshman Zach Ortwerth.
Without everyone, Iowa still relied on its tight ends as blockers. Finally, on a four-and-3 from the Wisconsin 32, Ortwerth was the lead blocker on an end-around against Nico Ragaini. Ortwerth couldn’t maintain the block and Ragaini was thrown to the ground for a 5-yard loss. But on Williams’ 82-yard touchdown run, Pascuzzi had one of the crucial Seal blocks.
Ferentz said All’s long-term prognosis doesn’t look good, but he will know more on Monday or Tuesday.
Hawkeyes columnist Chad Leistikow has covered sports for 29 years at The Des Moines Register and USA TODAY Sports Network. Join Chad’s texting group (free for subscribers) at HawkCentral.com/HawkeyesTexts. Follow @ChadLeistikow on Twitter.