Iowa TE Luke Lachey questionable vs. Wisconsin on final availability report

Iowa will potentially have a key offensive piece in the lineup after he’d been dealing with an injury this week, as star tight end Luke Lachey will be questionable on Saturday, according to the Big Ten availability report. His final status should become apparent closer to kickoff.

Elsewhere, both teams are down the quarterback they entered the year with as the starter. Cade McNamara is out for Iowa, which turns to Brendan Sullivan. And Wisconsin has been without Tyler Van Dyke since Week 3.

See the full Iowa and Wisconsin availability reports below ahead of the battle for the Heartland Trophy.

Full Iowa-Wisconsin availability reports

Iowa

• DB John Nestor — Out
• QB Marco Lainez — Out
• QB Cade McNamara — Out
• WR Reece Vander Zee — Out
• TE Addison Ostrenga — Out
• TE Luke Lachey — Questionable

Wisconsin

• RB Chez Mellusi — Out
• QB Tyler Van Dyke — Out
• WR Joe Griffin — Out
• S Kamo’i Latu — Out
• WR Tyrell Henry — Out
• QB Cole LaCrue — Out
• LB Tamer Dalloul — Out
• OL Evan Brown — Out
• OL Leyton Nelson — Out
• TE Rob Booker II — Out
• DL James Thompson Jr — Out
• TE JT Seagreaves — Questionable
• LB Tackett Curtis — Questionable
• LB Jaheim Thomas — Questionable
• WR Bryson Green — Questionable

Saturday’s game meant a lot to Iowa’s head coach

Ahead of the game, Ferentz broke down what he thinks makes the Iowa-Wisconsin rivalry special, including the similarities in the two programs and how they’ve been able to keep one another from reaching their goals in the past.

“It’s interesting,” Ferentz said. “I go way back. When I got here, I remember we knocked them out of the Rose Bowl, actually, in ’81. I remember that. It was a tough game. I can’t tell you who the quarterback was. The only thing I remember from that game, they had run a bounce pass, quarterback throws it off the turf to a receiver, catches it behind the line, and chucks it down there. We must have practiced it 30 times and they hit it for a touchdown against us, so practice doesn’t always make perfect. I’ll never forget that. It’s a hard play to defend. Everybody wants to come forward for obvious reasons.”

Ferentz first came to Iowa in 1981 as the team’s offensive line coach under Hayden Fry. He later left to become the head coach at Maine but in 1999 returned to Iowa to be the Hawkeyes head coach. Since then, as the head coach of Iowa, Ferentz has a record of 10-13 against the Badgers, including two wins in a row.

“Then it was interesting when that thing tailed off there at the late ’80s before I left here, their program had really gone to a place I don’t think anybody would have envisioned,” Ferentz said. “And then Barry [Alvarez] was hired in… would’ve been ’90. And up they went. Since I got back here in ’99, they’ve been nothing but strong. Impressive in all regards.”