Iowa’s Defense Delivers Historic 37–0 Beatdown of Wisconsin in Madison

For the fourth straight year, the Iowa Hawkeyes are bringing the Heartland Trophy back to Iowa City — and they did it in historic fashion.

Iowa rolled to a 37–0 shutout over Wisconsin, marking the program’s first shutout at Camp Randall Stadium since 1929 and the most points ever scored by the Hawkeyes in Madison in the 99-year history of the rivalry.

The defense set the tone early, forcing three first-half turnovers that helped Iowa build momentum and seize control before halftime. From there, the ground game took over, piling up 210 rushing yards in a complete team effort.

“The takeaways obviously got us going,” head coach Kirk Ferentz said. “But you never feel too comfortable — frankly, not until we got to thirty-seven. We felt good there, but it’s just hard to relax in this rivalry.”

Wisconsin struggled to recover from Iowa’s early defensive pressure.

“When our defense had three turnovers and we’re up seventeen early, it really just hurts the other team confidence-wise,” said quarterback Mark Gronowski. “We were able to lay it in on them, especially in the run game. We did what we wanted to there.”

For the Hawkeyes, the win was as much about response as it was dominance. Coming off a bye week and a tough loss to Indiana, Iowa regrouped and delivered a statement performance.

“It’s a testament to the mentality this team has,” said center Logan Jones. “We always talk about starting fast and finishing strong as a group. We couldn’t have asked for a better start — and we pushed that all the way to the end.”

The defensive effort was one of the best of the season for Iowa, who entered the matchup looking to spark more takeaways.

“It felt good to be on that side for once,” said cornerback Zach Lutmer. “We haven’t forced as many turnovers as we’d want this year, but we came out and got three tonight — and they were all huge.”

With the win, Iowa improves to 4-2 and turns its attention to a showdown against Penn State, who recently fired head coach James Franklin and lost starting quarterback Drew Allar for the season.

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