2020 Iowa Football vs Wisconsin Game Center

The Iowa Hawkeyes continued their stretch of perfection from the month of November into the first weekend in December last weekend with a 35-21 win over the Illinois Fighting Illini. That makes five straight wins for Iowa this season after getting off to a frustrating start with a pair of losses.

Iowa’s opponent this week, the Wisconsin Badgers, are likely just excited to be here. The Badgers are coming off their second loss of the season after falling to Indiana 14-6 last weekend. The matchup was their first since a loss to Northwestern two weeks prior and came in just the fourth game all year for Wisconsin.

The Badgers enter the week ranked #16 in the College Football Playoff rankings that were released a week ago. They’ll likely fall there as they did in the AP and Coaches rankings this week. They come in at #25 in each of those polls.

Iowa, meanwhile, enters the week ranked 19th in last week’s CFP rankings and this week’s AP poll, but 18th nationally in the Coaches Poll.

Here’s a rundown of Iowa’s senior day matchup with Wisconsin.

Date: Saturday, December 12th
Time: 2:30pm CT
Matchup: Wisconsin Badgers (2-2) at #16 Iowa Hawkeyes (5-2)
Location: Kinnick Stadium, Iowa City, IA
TV: FS1
Line: Iowa -1, O/U 43.5
Result: W, 28-7

History

The history between Iowa and Wisconsin is long and rich. The Badgers hold the all-time series advantage at 48-43-2, thanks in part to a 4-game winning streak currently underway. The series was at a near tie when Iowa last won, back in 2015 en route to a perfect season. The Hawkeyes haven’t been able to get a win since.

That win in 2015 is the only one for the Hawkeyes this decade as Wisconsin has won seven of the last eight meetings dating back to 2010. That stretch followed a Hawkeye hot streak, winning six of eight matchups between 2002 and 2009. That’s a microcosm of this series, which has largely been built on long winning streaks on either side. Wisconsin won five in a row from 1997-2001 after finally snapping a streak of 18 straight games without a win for the Badgers from 1977-1996. For their part, the Badgers had two streaks of five straight wins in the series between 1949 and 1967, winning 12 of the 18 meetings in that stretch. Their longest winning streak came in at the outset of the series, winning six straight between 1894 and 1917.

If history is any indication, an Iowa victory this week may mean more are on the horizon.