Heartland Trophy, Race for Big Ten West at Stake for Wisconsin Badgers

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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Plenty at stake for Wisconsin Badgers when they take on Iowa.

Reclaiming the Heartland Trophy will be a high priority for the Wisconsin Badgers when they travel to Iowa City to take on the Iowa Hawkeyes Saturday. But that’s not all that will be at stake in the game. Keeping the Nebraska Cornhuskers in their sights atop of the Big Ten West is also atop of their priority list.

Since the inception of the Heartland Trophy in 2004, the series between the Badgers and Hawkeyes is tied at five games a piece. If you remember last year (trust me, I don’t blame you if you don’t), Iowa came into Madison with an undefeated record and left with a 10-6 victory and hoisted the Heartland Trophy for the first since 2009. It was an ugly game, but Iowa forced four turnovers and held Wisconsin to just 86 yards rushing while Hawkeyes running back ran for a game-high 125 yards.

This year the Badgers are hoping for a different outcome. They will have a healthy Corey Clement and, even more important, will have star linebacker Vince Biegel back in the lineup after missing the last two games due to foot surgery. Wisconsin has won the last three meetings in Iowa City.

As great as it would be to reclaim a rivalry trophy, Paul Chryst and company have the bigger picture in mind. Reclaiming the Heartland Trophy will be another huge step in the ultimate goal of returning to the Big Ten championship game. At 1-2 in conference, the Badgers find themselves looking up to the likes of the undefeated Nebraska Cornhuskers (6-0, 3-0) and the Hawkeyes (5-2, 3-1).

A win for the Badgers and they keep their Big Ten title hopes alive. A loss and they can pretty much kiss those hopes goodbye.