Iowa football 2023 early opponent preview: Wisconsin

IOWA CITY — “Air Raid” has entered the vocabulary of Wisconsin football fans this year. With Luke Fickell taking over as head coach, the Badgers appear to be saying goodbye to their traditional grind-it-out offense in favor of a system that increasingly values spreading the field and having an efficient passing attack. An Air Raid offense at Wisconsin could look different from what it would look like at other places. Specifically, the Badgers could end up running the ball more than offensive coordinator Phil Longo’s counterparts with similar philosophies. Longo told reporters in January he would be “an idiot not to run the football here with the backfield that we have and the offensive line that we have.” “We really want to line up sideline to sideline and then we want to stretch and threaten a defense vertically,” Longo said, via the Associated Press. “Because in a perfect world you’d like to get all 11 defenders spread out throughout the field as far away from each other as possible.” Wisconsin’s running back position will look similar in 2023, with Braelon Allen once again leading the way. Allen was a second-team all-Big Ten honoree last year as he averaged 5.4 yards per carry and had another 1,200-plus-yard season. Quarterback Tanner Mordecai, who spent three years at Oklahoma and two years at SMU, has taken the reins at Wisconsin. He completed 65 percent of his passes last year and threw 33 touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Key defensive players returning include inside linebacker Maema Njongmeta, safety Hunter Wohler and outside linebacker C.J. Goetz. Get exclusive Hawkeye insights in your inbox Hawk off the Press Newsletter Signup Delivered once a week, each Friday Your email address Outside expectations are high for the first year of the Fickell era. ESPN’s Football Power Index gives the Badgers a 48 percent chance of winning the Big Ten West. First-year head coaches have had good fortune historically in Madison. Paul Chryst was 10-3 in his first season as Wisconsin head coach. Gary Andersen was 9-4. Bret Bielema was 12-1. (Bielema’s one loss was at then-No. 6 Michigan.) But looking across the college football landscape, many other coaches are not as fortunate. Take Fickell as an example. Fickell eventually took Cincinnati to its first College Football Playoff appearance in 2021, and the Bearcats also finished in the top 10 of the polls in 2020. But Fickell’s first Cincinnati team had a 4-8 record, which included a 17-point loss at home to Marshall and a 28-point loss to East Carolina. Wins at Camp Randall have proved to be elusive for Iowa. The Hawkeyes have not won on the road against the Badgers since 2015, losing by 24 in 2017, two in 2019 and 20 in 2021. Iowa vs. Wisconsin: 3 things to watch How much damage can Braelon Allen do against Iowa’s front seven? Allen averaged 5.2 yards per carry against Iowa in 2021, and Wisconsin won definitively. But when Iowa held him to 2.5 yards per carry last season, the Hawkeyes took back the Heartland Trophy. Tanner Mordecai vs. Iowa’s defensive backs. As Wisconsin adapts to its own version of the Air Raid, Mordecai’s success will be essential. Iowa, meanwhile, will have five defensive backs who started at least one game in 2023. How well does Iowa’s offensive line protect against Maema Njongmeta? Njongmeta gained momentum toward the end of the season, recording at least one tackle for loss in the Badgers’ last five games. 2023 prognosis If Wisconsin lives up to all the preseason hype, the Oct. 14 Heartland Trophy game could again have significant Big Ten West title implications down the road.