Before the Wisconsin football team ever loaded up the team plane and flew to Las Vegas to kick off the 2010 season, conventional wisdom pointed toward this two-week stretch—including dates with Ohio State and Iowa—as the defining stretch of a promising season. An uninspiring, if not unsurprising, loss in East Lansing temporarily threatened to mute all of that talk, but after bludgeoning the Buckeyes on Saturday, UW is one win away from leaping right back into conference championship relevance.
More than just providing the Badgers with a path back into title contention, this portion of Wisconsin's schedule provides a perfect opportunity to examine what the future has in store for each rivalry.
Here's a hint: They're headed in opposite directions.
In the lead up to last Saturday's game, several UW players were asked whether or not they would consider Ohio State a rivalry game. Although it's a circle-the-calendar type of weekend, most said they'd like to prove that the Buckeyes could be beaten before proclaiming it a tried-and-true rivalry.
Check that off the list.
I'm not going to claim that Wisconsin's roster has the same A-to-Z talent that Ohio State's does, but 31-18 is no fluke. In his post-game column, ESPN college football writer Pat Forde included a striking quote from Buckeye linebacker Brian Rolle.
""They just lined up toe-to-toe and beat us,"" the standout senior said.
No frills, no trick plays, no miracles. Wisconsin played its own style, Ohio State did the same, and by the time students filled the turf at Camp Randall Stadium one team had clearly out played the other.
Rivalries need that. For once, it will be the Buckeyes chomping at the bit to get another crack at Wisconsin next year. The best part is that they'll get that chance. Beginning in 2011, Ohio State and Wisconsin find themselves in the same yet-unnamed Big Ten division. Of course the Badgers will never cause blood to boil in Columbus like Michigan does, but if this is game is going to have championship ramifications every season, the word ‘rivalry' is not far behind.
As sure as Wisconsin and OSU is a rivalry on the rise, the border battle between Bucky and Iowa is destined to lose steam.
Everybody talks about Paul Bunyan's Axe and the hated Gophers, but most players say there is no team they'd rather beat than the Hawkeyes. It makes sense too, given the eerie similarities between the two programs. They play the same style of football, they recruit the same kids, they've both had success recently and they play just 146 miles from each other. Despite Iowa winning the last two matchups, even play in the series also fuels competitiveness—the all-time series between the two is 42-41-2 in favor of the Hawkeyes.
On top of that, Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema (Hawkeye tatooo and all) played his college ball in Iowa City under legendary coach Hayden Fry and served as an assistant for Fry and current head coach Kirk Ferentz earlier in his career.
With the exception of an awesome trophy to play for—the Heartland Trophy is six years old and senior UW strong safety Jay Valai asked after the Ohio State game if it was an ox or a pig—Wisconsin and Iowa have all the makings of a rivalry that's built to last, save one small point of concern.
They don't play each other much after this season.
Because the Hawkeyes and Badgers are in opposite divisions beginning next year, the teams will not play again until at least 2013. Each team received one protected rivalry game, and with Wisconsin's being against Minnesota, that means only four games every ten years against the Hawkeyes. Such sporadic play is not conducive to the good ‘ole-fashioned bad blood that we've become accustomed to seeing when these two slug it out.
Wisconsin entered last Saturday's nationally televised contest with Ohio State knowing it needed a victory to stay relevant in the Big Ten, and the same applies this weekend in Iowa City. I'm not convinced the Badgers have enough gas in the tank to dial up the same emotions they did last weekend—especially with a bye week beckoning—but this game is worth enjoying regardless because it's the final annual installment of a classic Midwestern brawl.
Do you care more about Ohio State than Iowa? E-mail Parker at pjgabriel@dailycardinal.com
