UW’S NEXT OPPONENT
Wisconsin (2-1), coming off a threepoint loss to unranked BYU, opens Big Ten play at 7:30 p.m. Saturday against host Iowa (3-0).
The Hawkeyes have defeated Northern Illinois, Iowa State and Northern Iowa. Following is a breakdown of the unbeaten Hawkeyes.
Offense
The offense has been up and down so far, but quarterback Nate Stanley hit 23 of 28 passes for 309 yards and a pair of touchdowns last week in a 38-14 victory over Northern Iowa. The graduate of Menomonie High School has completed 63.3% of his passes this season but has almost as many interceptions (2) as touchdown passes. He had 26 touchdown passes and only six interceptions last season.
His top three targets are tight ends Noah Fant (12 catches, two touchdowns) and T.J. Hockenson (12 catches) and wide receiver Nick Easley (11 catches, one touchdown).
The emergence of Easley has been critical because teams in the past have been able to negate the tight ends because of the lack of receiving threats on the perimeter.
Last season, UW limited Hockenson to one catch for 6 yards. Fant did not record a catch.
Iowa is only 11th in the Big Ten in rushing offense at 173.7 yards per game. However, UW appears vulnerable against the run and Hawkeyes offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz suggested in the off-season he got away from the run too quickly in the 38-14 loss to UW last season.
Defense
The line is the most experienced, with three seniors, and arguably deepest unit on the defense and has accounted for 10 of the team’s 12 sacks. That total is No. 2 in the Big Ten behind Penn State.
Sophomore reserve end A.J. Epenesa leads the unit with four sacks, three hurries and two forced fumbles. Linebacker was viewed as a potential weak area, but senior Jack Hockaday (19 tackles), junior Kristian Welch (19) and sophomore Nick Niemann (12) have been active. Welch, from Iola-Scandinavia High School, has a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
“The linebackers maybe don’t have as many starts,” UW coach Paul Chryst said, “but they know what they’re doing and they trust themselves. And they’re really good football players.”
The secondary lacks shutdown cornerback Josh Jackson, who returned two interceptions for scores against UW last season, but safeties Amani Hooker (14 tackles) and Jake Gervase (12) are solid and cornerbacks Matt Hankins and Michael Ojemudia haven’t made mistakes. The overall numbers are impressive. Iowa enters the game No. 1 in the Big Ten in points allowed (8.0 per game) and total defense (209.0 yards per game).
“It is a really well-coached defense,” Chryst said. “The reason I think you can say that is the players know what they’re doing.”
Special teams
The coverage units have been above average, and kicker Miguel Recinos and punter Colten Rastetter have been weapons.
Recinos has recorded 12 touchbacks on 17 kickoffs. He has made only 4 of 7 field-goal attempts, however. The misses have come from 38, 50 and 30 yards.
Rastetter has punted 10 times, with four covering more than 50 yards. His average is 45.4 yards.