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Disappointing is an understatement.

After starting 0-3 in Big Ten play, an abundance of question marks currently surround the Wisconsin football team. But one thing is for sure: It desperately needs a victory Saturday.

Following back-to-back home defeats, the Badgers (3-3) will head to Iowa City to take on the Hawkeyes (4-3, 1-2 Big Ten) tomorrow. And despite their unthinkable start, the Badgers — especially the seniors — haven’t forgotten their weekly philosophy.

“This is really when you want to bring in the ‘1-0’ mentality,” senior linebacker Jonathan Casillas said. “You need to forget about what you did in the past and look forward to what you have in front of you. If we keep looking back at what we did wrong and the teams we lost to, we’re going to get beat again because [Iowa is] good enough to do that to us.”

“Being ‘1-0’ is something that we’ve got to live by and just try and take the rest of this six-game season and do what we can with it, which is win,” senior defensive tackle Jason Chapman echoed. “This is a situation we’re not used to, losing three games in a row. We’ve just got to have a positive mentality about the whole situation and just step forward.”

To do that, this veteran-driven defense will have to make vast improvements after giving up 48 points to Penn State last weekend.

“[We’ve got to] stay focused and execute,” Casillas said. “We have a lot of playmakers on our team, but we just don’t focus sometimes and we don’t execute. That equals big plays and third down conversions.”

Many of which have come after halftime, as the Badgers have been outscored 74-16 in their last four second halves.

“We’ve got to be sharper in the second half,” senior linebacker DeAndre Levy said. “In the first half, we’ve been pretty good overall this year, but come out in the second half and given up a lot of big plays, which have made up a lot of the yards, a lot of the points we’ve given up.”

Once again, the UW defense will have its work cut out for it tomorrow.

Iowa — UW head coach Bret Bielema’s alma mater — lost its first two conference games but found lightning in a bottle behind junior running back Shonn Greene, as the Hawkeyes put up 45 points against Indiana in a 45-9 blowout in Bloomington.

Greene is currently second in the Big Ten in rushing yards per game, averaging 133.9 and finishing with 115 and a touchdown against the Hoosiers Saturday.

“He’s a very physical back, a big guy,” Casillas said of Greene. “We look forward to playing against big backs like this. P.J. (Hill) is a big back, and I’ve been playing against him [in practice] for years. Playing against (Ohio State’s ‘Beanie’) Wells, you expect to play against guys like that in the Big Ten.”

“We feel he’s a strong runner — he’s a good running back,” Chapman said. “He can create some things for them; he’s a real momentum swing for them, and he’s changed their running game a lot, so we’ve got to stop him and make things happen.”

No matter who lines up against Wisconsin Saturday, the senior leaders are aware they need to step up their game if they want to turn things around.

“We can’t beat ourselves. We’ve done that the past couple weeks,” Casillas said. “Penn State is a great team, but we let some things slip by, and we didn’t compete as much as we wanted to; we kind of self-destructed. If we keep doing that, we’re going to keep losing.”

Since Bielema took over the UW head coaching position two years ago, the Badgers have had the Hawkeyes’ number, beating them once in Kinnick Stadium and once at home. Tomorrow, Wisconsin will try to make it three in a row. And after two tough losses in Madison, perhaps it’s a good thing the Badgers will be away from Camp Randall.

“I love playing on the road in the Big Ten,” Casillas said. “All the stadiums are nice; all the crowds are ruthless and loud, just how I like it.”

Regardless, Wisconsin is still hungry for its first conference victory.

“I’m looking forward to a physical game,” Levy said. “There’s been some bad blood between us. I’m just looking forward to it.”

Though it was simple, Chapman put it best: “It’s a big game. We’ve got to win.”