[media-credit name=’RAY PFEIFFER/Herald photo’ align=’alignnone’ width=’648′][/media-credit]Throw out the "1-0" philosophy — Wisconsin's Big Ten finale is not just another game.

For one, Joe Thomas is well-aware this is his last chance, along with the other five starting seniors for No. 16 Wisconsin (9-1, 6-1 Big Ten), to defeat the only Big Ten school no player on the Badgers' roster has ever defeated.

"One of our main goals this year is to beat Iowa," Thomas said, regarding the team's nine set goals before the season. "Nobody on this team has ever beaten Iowa, and we want to finish this season real strong, and if you can win at Iowa, that's just the way you want to finish the Big Ten."

The Hawkeyes (6-4, 2-4) stagger into what appeared to be a great matchup at the beginning of the conference season, but UW head coach Bret Bielema is still wary of Iowa's ability to pull the home upset Saturday. Iowa has won 27 of its last 30 games at Kinnick Stadium and has not lost to Wisconsin since 2001, winning the past four contests.

"Their season may not have gone as planned, but I know from the time that game finished on Saturday to when we take the field this coming Saturday, they're going to be as well-coached as anybody in the league, [by] a head coach that knows exactly what he wants to do because of the experiences he's had," Bielema said of Hawkeyes head coach Kirk Ferentz, one of many former colleagues at Iowa. "It's going to be an exciting game, and (it is) part of what makes college football what it is today."

Part of what makes things more interesting, beyond Iowa's recent domination of Wisconsin, is Bielema's vast history in Iowa City. In short, Bielema lettered as a nose tackle, coached the defensive line and linebackers for eight years at Iowa (including three under Ferentz) and has a tattoo of a Hawkeye on his leg that he refuses to remove, even as the head coach of Wisconsin.

And yet, unsurprisingly, it's Bielema himself who is downplaying the rivalry between the two Big Ten squads.

"I told my team on Sunday, it's very well-documented in my history, my past with the University of Iowa, but the key word is the past history," Bielema said. "I'm a strong believer in [the idea that the past] really does not affect anything in the present or in the future. You control your own destiny. This is another opportunity for our guys to go out and play against the University of Iowa football team that is on the field this year.

"Iowa's a great team, even though the record doesn't really show it. Every time we play them, they come out to play hard, and we haven't beaten them in four years … it's going to be a very physical game."

Concerning the quarterback position, it appears as if Tyler Donovan will start in place of John Stocco, who is dealing with a shoulder injury sustained last week against Penn State.

Per Bielema's orders, the quarterbacks were unable for comment during the week, so UW offensive coordinator and quarterbacks coach Paul Chryst was left to take the heat surrounding the QB situation.

Chryst was careful to avoid leaning toward a particular quarterback as a starter as he spoke to the media Tuesday — too early in the week, Chryst said, to name the expected starter — but he still spoke glowingly of Donovan's ability to lead Wisconsin into Kinnick Stadium, should he be the signal-caller on Saturday.

"His preparation's been good the past couple of weeks, noticeably different," Chryst said. "The other thing that's good is he's not doing anything out of character either, so if the case is that he's got to go, then I think he'll (have) prepared himself well for it."

Donovan received many votes of confidence among teammates, and tight end Travis Beckum — Wisconsin's leader in receptions and receiving yards — downplayed the seriousness of an uncertainty at the quarterback position going into Iowa City.

"T.D.'s a great quarterback, and he's going to come in with the plays and run it," Beckum said. "It's just a fact that if somebody goes out, somebody else has to step up."

Stocco has been banged up before this season, nursing a knee injury before UW's opener against Bowling Green, and as a result Donovan has benefited from previous practice with Wisconsin starters over the course of the past few months.

"Any time you get a chance to play and get an extended amount of reps, which he had in fall camp, it helps, so I think he can draw back on that, and if that's the case where he needs to step in and play, he'll be well-prepared for it."