The Heartland Trophy's Return to Iowa City

On October 3, 2015, the Iowa Hawkeyes did something they haven't done in six years. For the first time since 2009, the Hawkeyes defeated the Wisconsin Badgers to win the Heartland trophy and bring it back home to Iowa. In a hard fought battle between arguably the two best teams in the Big Ten West Division, the Hawkeyes prevailed in a low-scoring game at Camp Randall Stadium in Wisconsin. These two teams have played ten times in the Heartland trophy era with both teams winning five games each. Overall, they have met a total of 89 times, with the Badgers winning 44 times, the Hawkeyes winning 43 times, and the two playing to a draw twice. For fans, this has been a very exciting rivalry with both teams matching up evenly.
The Hawkeyes came into the game 4-0 after a dominating 62-16 rout of the North Texas Mean Green. Their quarterback "Sunshine" C.J. Beathard had been playing incredible, and looked to continue his hot streak. Everything seemed to be clicking for the Hawkeyes. Unfortunately, the Hawks knew that they would be playing without their long-ball threat in Tevaun Smith. He was Iowa's leading wide receiver, but he was unfortunately injured. Knowing that, without Smith, C.J. wouldn't be able to throw to his capabilities, Iowa depended on a big game from their running back Jordan Canzeri. Canzeri was coming off of one of the best games of his career after rushing for a total of 115 yards and a total of four touchdowns. He was looking to continue his success and stretch the Hawkeyes win streak to five.
The Wisconsin Badgers came into the game ranked Number 19 in the AP (Associated Press) Top 25. They had a record of 3-1 with their only loss coming from Number 13 ranked Alabama. Their quarterback, Joel Stave, was looking to beat the Hawkeyes for the fourth straight time in his final year wearing a Badgers jersey. He was playing great, completing over 60% of his passes and throwing for more than 150 yards a game. Their freshman running back, Taiwan Deal, was playing well coming off a 147 yard effort in a 28-0 victory against Hawaii. The Badger fans didn't think they would have any trouble against the Hawkeyes. While everyone knew this might be the most crucial game in the battle for the Big Ten West Division, the Badgers fans thought that, especially in Wisconsin, their Badgers would cruise past Iowa and go on to the next game.
The game started slow with the only score in the first quarter being a 46-yard field goal from Wisconsin kicker Rafael Gaglianone. The teams went back and fourth either forcing each other to punt, or forcing turnover-on-downs until Iowa's kicker Marshall Koehn, who had already made a 57-yard game winning field goal against Pittsburgh, missed an easy 27-yard field goal. The second quarter was a little quicker with Iowa scoring on a 1-yard pass from C.J. Beathard to George Kittle after an interception of Stave from Iowa Defensive Back Desmond King. On the opening play of Wisconsin's next drive, Drew Ott of Iowa forced Joel Stave to fumble, and Iowa was able to score a field goal to lead the game 10-3. In the third quarter, Gaglianone scored another 46-yard field goal to bring the Badgers closer. However, in the final quarter, neither offenses could best their opponents defenses and the Iowa Hawkeyes closed out a tough, hard-fought win against the Badgers.