Counting down Iowa’s most-tantalizing 2021 football games: No. 3 Wisconsin

For Iowa’s most-tantalizing games 12 through 4, go to this page.

And now, No. 3:

Oct. 30: At Wisconsin

Come on, this has to be No. 1. Right?

Wisconsin and Iowa are the consensus 1-2 picks in the Big Ten West. The winner of this game has the upper hand in the Race to Indianapolis, no?

By the way, “Race to Indianapolis” is what the Big Ten should call its football season. Indy, race. Get it? I’m going to need a cut of the action once the conference starts using that. You’re a witness. Anyway …

There are two Iowa games I like better than this one, at least this year. So there.

Besides, we don’t know the Badgers or Hawkeyes will be the West’s two top dogs. Big Ten media picked Wisconsin and Minnesota 1-2 last year. Northwestern finished first, Iowa second.

Iowa beat Wisconsin 28-7 last Dec. 12 at Kinnick Stadium. That’s right, a regular-season game was played on Dec. 12. There were snow flurries. It was 33 degrees at the 2:30 p.m. kickoff with a wind of 10 mph. You couldn’t attend. I could. You were in a better place. Warmer, at least.

Unlike the previous several Hawkeyes-Badgers clashes, there was no real Wisconsin running game in the last one. The Badgers had 33 carries for 56 yards. That was the old ballgame, after Wisconsin had beaten Iowa in their previous four meetings.

The Badgers were uncharacteristically mediocre, had more than their share of injury issues, and missed two regular-season games to COVID-19 issues. They scored seven, six and seven points in a three-game losing streak capped by the Iowa defeat. But then they beat Minnesota in overtime and handled Wake Forest in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl to salvage a winning record at 4-3.

The lasting memory of that game? Wisconsin shattering the trophy in the locker room after its win.

Wisconsin has a lot of experienced players back, and it plays Penn State, Michigan, Iowa and Northwestern at home. This could be a 12-0 team.

Of course, Iowa could be a 12-0 team. I mean, it happened just six years ago and no one saw it coming. That was the last time the Hawkeyes won in Madison. You beat the Badgers at their place, you take advantage of it.

Paul Chryst’s record at Wisconsin is 56-19. The Barry Alvarez Program still works. It has never been the prettiest style of football to watch, but when has football ever truly been pretty? Pound, pound, pound. On both sides of the ball.

Iowa goes for that, too.

But we’ve seen it, and seen it some more, so this can’t be the most-tantalizing game on Iowa’s schedule. Unless …

Unless the Hawkeyes are no worse than 3-1 in the Big Ten when they show up at Camp Randall. Then, this is as tantalizing as a Mickie Burger washed down with a chocolate shake at Mickie’s Dairy Bar near the stadium.

I assume that’s tantalizing. I’ve never been there and certainly am not about to fill up on dairy before an 11 a.m. game. Unless it’s an omelet with Wisconsin cheese, in which case an exception must be made.

The two most-tantalizing games the Hawkeyes face? Oh, they’re coming up fast, folks. You typically don’t get the milkshake before the Mickie Burger, but that’s how it is this season.