Tuesdays with Torbee

One touchdown was scored in last week’s primeval brawl between the Iowa Hawkeyes and Wisconsin Badgers.

In a bit of poetic justice, that 82-yard Leshon Williams’ scamper came out of an old school, I-formation look – the kind of meat-and-potatoes run play generations of Badgers used to bludgeon their Big 10 brethren.

On Saturday, the air raid thudded and bully ball prevailed.

No doubt, the father and son team of Kirk and Brian Ferentz took extra pleasure in rubbing Badger noses in incremental, ice age football. Many in both fan bases viewed this matchup – which gave the victor the inside track to a Big 10 West Division championship berth – as a proof-of-concept referendum.

On the Wisconsin side, a winning-but-not-sexy old school coach was jettisoned mid-season in 2022 for a newer, shinier model who promised to do away with three-yards-and-a-cloud-of-dust football for a “modern” offense built to compete with bluebloods.

The decision in Iowa City was to go with the old. Double down on the longest-tenured coach in all of college football and his steadfast dedication to plodding, careful, complementary football with an emphasis on defensive stinginess and a conservatism that would make John Birch blush.

On a gloomy gray October Saturday in Camp Randall, the fossil outwitted the radical.

Early on, before a troubling knee injury to Iowa’s most reliable pass catcher, tight end Erick All, it appeared the forward pass was going to play a decent-sized role in the Hawkeye game plan. On Iowa’s first two drives, Iowa quarterback Deacon Hill actually hit on three of his first five passes, unfortunately including the slant that led All into a dangerous hit. Once All departed, however, the Iowa offense turned into the Williams and Kaleb Johnson show.

While many mock the frightful passing stats line of 6 for 14 for a mere 37 yards Hill ended with, a more remarkable stat is Iowa rushing for 200 yards playing with one hand tied behind its back. The Iowa offense looked much like a service academy, minus the option: you knew they were just going to line up and run and yet the Badgers failed to stop it much of the day. Iowa ended up eking out a time-of-possession advantage. With that, otherworldly punting by kicking god Tory Taylor and the relentless aggression of Sebastian Castro, Cooper DeJean and Jay Higgins, the Hawkeyes successfully dragged the Badgers into a gutter fight and left them bruised, beaten and demoralized.

Pundits call it ugly. But from my seats high up in Camp Randall, it was a thing of radiant beauty.

I particularly enjoyed the increasingly frustrated Badger fan behind me bemoaning the fact Iowa could rip off four, five and six yard runs while both Badger quarterbacks had to run for their lives and couldn’t get the massive and talented Braelon Allen the ball enough times to turn the fortunes of the game.

The grumbling and grousing in the Camp Randall stands made it clear many of the Badger faithful loathed seeing Iowa be the tougher, more blue collar team. They took it as a cultural affront.

Now, it is still early in this experiment. With the abolition of divisions and the influx of offensive-minded west coast teams into the Big 10 next year, Wisconsin’s gamble may still pay off. Perhaps Iowa will regret doubling down on Jurassic era bully ball at some point down the line. The first data point in the argument, however, points toward Iowa making the right decision. The Hawkeyes have now taken three of the last four games against Wisconsin and have their division championship fate in their own hands.

The fact is, this version of the Iowa Hawkeyes is full of bad asses that don’t care at all if you think they are ugly or an affront to modern football. They embrace the brand. The Bullies of the Big 10 are back and are going to try to bully all the way to Indianapolis.

Debates on whether this is a long-term strategy for success can wait for the offseason. We live in the now, and right now, Iowa is beating teams down with physicality, intelligence and perseverance in the face of adversity.

If you can’t enjoy that, you’re watching the wrong sport.

Follow me on Twitter @ToryBrecht and the 12 Saturdays Podcast @12Saturdays.