In 2020, Iowa beat Wisconsin 28-7 at Kinnick. Over the past four seasons, after Wisconsin had won 14 straight previously over Minnesota, PJ Fleck is 2-2 in the trophy🏆 series.
It is more reasonable to pick Minnesota or Iowa over Wisconsin in 2022 based on Wisconsin’s woes the past two seasons and who the Badgers lost last from last season.
Top 25 predictions for 2022:
22. Minnesota
The 2021 offensive game plan was “Three Yards and a Cloud of Turf Pellets” as the Gophers led all Power 5 teams with 46.2 runs per game. Conversely, their 19.8 pass attempts represented the fewest in the Power 5. You had to wonder if Tanner Morgan was on a pitch count as P.J. Fleck’s team managed to eke out four games in which it had single-digit completions. I believe the sixth-year senior Morgan can recoup some of the pluck that led him to toss 30 touchdowns in 2019, and I believe Dylan Wright will triple his production to 50-plus catches. The former top-70 recruit, who transferred from Texas A&M a year ago, has too much length and strength to go unused.
24. Iowa
Last Oct. 10, the Hawkeyes were 6-0 and ranked No. 2 in the AP poll. Over the final eight games, however, they went 4-4, averaged 17 points and threw only three touchdowns. Their stall-out was exacerbated by converting a meager 40.4 percent of their red-zone chances into touchdowns. (From 2014 through 2020, Iowa converted 66.4 percent.) One key is scheming more goal-line touches for tight end Sam Laporta, a budding NFL prospect who has 95 career catches but only four scores. Expect seven touchdowns from him this season, matching the number Noah Fant caught in 2018.But, is this really the season QB Tanner Morgan puts it all together against Iowa and the B1G West?
Iowa has won seven straight in this trophy series, since 2015.
