After its best offensive performance of the season in the 42-24 win over Michigan State last week, the UW football team’s offense hopes to keep its hot streak going this Saturday against Iowa.
The Badgers torched Michigan State for six touchdowns last weekend and look to build off the performance as they travel to Iowa City this weekend to clash with the Big Ten-leading Hawkeyes (8-1, 5-0 Big Ten).
Bollinger was particularly impressive last Saturday for Wisconsin, (6-3, 1-3 Big Ten) accounting for five of the Badgers’ six touchdowns, running two in himself and passing for three others with a different player on the receiving end of each score.
“Brooks looked very impressive,” UW offensive coordinator Brian White said. “He was moving the ball around very well and finding a lot of different guys.”
Bollinger’s performance against the Spartans earned him the co-Big Ten offensive player of the week award along with, ironically, Hawkeye quarterback Brad Banks, who lead the Hawkeyes as Iowa thumped Michigan 34-9 Saturday.
Another key to the Badgers’ success last week was their ability to run the ball at will. This is a credit to the offensive line, which has taken some criticism this year for not dominating opposing defenses. Against MSU, Anthony Davis rumbled for 170 yards, and Dwayne Smith added another 110 yards and a touchdown.
Davis needs just 33 yards against Iowa to give Wisconsin a 1,000-yard rusher for the 10th-straight year. If Davis hits 1,000, he will join Heisman Trophy winner Ron Dayne as the only two Wisconsin backs to rush for 1,000 yards in each of their first two seasons.
Establishing the running game against No. 9 Iowa may be no easy task.
The Hawkeyes rank first in the Big Ten in stopping the run, giving up a mere 62 yards a game. White, nonetheless, says the Badgers won’t alter their game plan.
“Davis and Smith are running extremely well, and that keeps our offense on the field,” White said.
Despite losing wideout Lee Evans for the season, the Badgers have still had success throwing the ball to freshmen Jonathan Orr and Brandon Williams and sophomore Darrin Charles.
Orr has established himself as a big-time receiver in his first year of action. He ranks ninth in the Big Ten with just over 73 receiving yards a game.
Despite Iowa’s stingy rush defense, the Hawkeyes gave up a conference-worst 301 passing yards per game. The Badgers will no doubt be looking to take advantage of this.
White isn’t assuming anything about the Iowa defense.
“Sometimes stats don’t tell the whole story,” White said. “Iowa has a very good defense. They have a lot of guys that can make big plays.”
Iowa possesses three of the top five sack leaders in the conference in seniors Colin Cole and Matt Roth and junior Howard Hodges, each with six. As a team, Iowa ranks first in sacks in the conference.
Wisconsin’s offense has given up a Big Ten-leading 35 sacks this season. These numbers don’t spell good news for the Badgers.
If Wisconsin is to have any kind of success against Iowa, it must do many of the things offensively that it did against Michigan State.
Bollinger must continue to distribute the ball to different people, not allowing Iowa’s defense to key on any one receiver. It must establish the running game to keep the offense on the field and to keep the defense rested.
