Iowa finds no answers for Badgers

Wisconsin safety Collin Wilder was planning his Halloween costume this week when he bought a red and white hat for $7 at a mall and wrote a message on it with a Sharpie.

Just like that, he came up with the object that best symbolizes how the Badgers have turned their season around.

Wisconsin forced three turnovers and produced six sacks in a 27-7 victory over No. 9 Iowa on Saturday that enabled the Badgers to maintain control of their destiny in the Big Ten West Division race. Each time a Wisconsin player made a big play on defense, he wore Wilder’s hat with the homemade slogan, “The Grit Factory.”

Consider it a more blue-collar, Midwestern version of Miami’s turnover chain.

“That’s the mentality of this whole program, is grit,” said Wilder, who intended to dress up as a factory worker or mechanic for Halloween. “I feel like that’s what this program was built on. When you talk about the grit factory, this is the factory of grit - the University of Wisconsin.”

That mentality has helped Wisconsin

(5-3, 3-2 Big Ten) win four straight after losing three of its first four games.

“A lot of people counted us out,” said Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz, who scored on two quarterback sneaks and threw a 4-yard touchdown pass to Jake Ferguson. “Everybody in that locker room, that never even crossed our mind.”

Wisconsin’s Braelon Allen rushed for

104 yards on 20 attempts. The 17-yearold freshman has run for over 100 yards in four straight games after totaling just

12 carries in Wisconsin’s first four games. Iowa (6-2, 3-2) has been outscored 51-14 in its last two games after being ranked second in the nation just a couple of weeks ago. This was the Hawkeyes’ first game since a 24-7 home loss to Purdue on Oct. 16.

“There’s no panic,” Iowa quarterback Spencer Petras said. “We’ve been there before. We started last season 0-2. The biggest thing is pushing through when you get knocked down like this. There’s no quit in this team.”

Doege, Brown lead West Virginia: Jarret Doege threw three touchdown passes, Leddie Brown ran for two scores and West Virginia upset No. 22 Iowa State

38-31 on Saturday.

West Virginia (4-4, 2-3 Big 12) came alive on offense after averaging 20 points in its first four conference games.

Iowa State (5-3, 3-2) was missing leading tackler Mike Rose because of an undisclosed injury and the league’s top defense gave up a season-high 492 yards. The linebacker had started all 45 previous games in his career. The Cyclones had kept their seven previous opponents under 350 yards. Breece Hall rushed for

167 yards, including a 70-yard TD on Iowa State’s third play from scrimmage. But he fumbled reaching for the end zone in a pile of players for the potential tying touchdown with about 6 minutes left and West Virginia’s Alonzo Addae recovered. The play held up upon review.

West Virginia punted on its next series to give the Cyclones one last chance.

Brock Purdy ran for 14 yards on thirdand-15 to the West Virginia 25. A falsestart penalty then pushed Iowa State back. With no time left, Purdy threw into a crowd in the back of the end zone and the ball was batted away incomplete.

Ridder, Whyle, help No. 2 Bearcats top Tulane:

Two underwhelming victories in a row has Cincinnati coach Luke Fickell answering questions about whether the still unbeaten, second-ranked Bearcats are living up to their billing.

Ridder connected twice with tight end Josh Whyle for touchdowns, and No. 2 Cincinnati pulled away late for a 31-12 victory Saturday over a struggling but feisty Tulane squad that didn’t trail by more than nine points until the latter half of the fourth quarter.

“We know we’ve got to do a better job,” Fickell said. “We know what brings the energy to our program. We’ve got to find better ways to get that going earlier in games.”

Jerome Ford rushed for 65 yards and a touchdown — his 14th this season — for Cincinnati (8-0, 4-0 American Athletic Conference), which briefly trailed in the second quarter and led by just two at halftime before outscoring Tulane 17-0 the rest of the way.

Bowling Green wins after coach ejected:

Matt McDonald threw for 263 yards and a career-best four touchdowns, as Bowling Green survived the ejection of head coach Scot Loeffler to upend Buffalo

56-44 on Saturday.

Loeffler was ejected in the third quarter after being flagged for two unsportsmanlike conduct calls on back-to-back drives. He became the first head coach ejected since a rules change in 2016. In 18 minutes after his ejection, Bowling Green scored more points than in any full game over the last two seasons.

The teams combined for 49 points in the fourth quarter alone, matching score for score, and Buffalo rallied with 34 points after halftime. The teams amassed

983 yards of total offense.