Iowa at Wisconsin football picks, Big Ten West rivalry, corn

Corn often has been a staple of the Midwest and so, too, has power football between Big Ten Conference teams. That will be the case Saturday, which effectively will determine who will represent the Big Ten West Division for the final time in the Big Ten Championship Game the first Saturday in December.

Dueling picks by the College Football Enquirer podcast and expanded commentary during a segment of games they’re looking forward to featured the 3 p.m. Saturday meeting between the University of Wisconsin football team and Iowa at Camp Randall Stadium. The podcast, which features Yahoo! Sports’ Dan Wetzel and Ross Dellenger, and Sports Illustrated’s Pat Forde, produces three episodes per week and Thursday’s included a conversation on games they were excited about and their “Race for the Case” of beer involving picking games and locks of the week.

Forde opened the discussion, “I’m doing the Big Ten West-a-palooza, Iowa-Wisconsin. Both one-loss teams and one of them is going to win the Big Ten West, and it’s going to be whoever wins this game.”

The Hawkeyes (5-1, 2-1 Big Ten) and their abysmal offense have been well documented along with offensive coordinator Brian Ferentz’s contract that states the team must average 25.0 points per game and win at least seven games for him to receive a bonus. Their schedule is a cakewalk after playing the Badgers (4-1, 2-0): vs. Minnesota, at Northwestern (Wrigley Field), vs. Rutgers, vs. Illinois and at Nebraska.

“Somehow inconceivably incomprehensible Iowa could average 21 points per game and go 11-1 — it is incredible,” Forde said. “But here they are with their defense and their special teams and their pinning (teams) down inside the 5, going into Camp Randall Stadium against a Wisconsin team that is evolving with a new coaching staff and a new offense. I think the Badgers are better. But you get trapped in one of those Iowa games and all of a sudden it’s 13-10 in the fourth quarter and they’re punting down to the 3 and you never know.”

Similarly, the Badgers' schedule is rather soft. They'd hold the tiebreaker and a one-game lead over Iowa with a win. The remaining schedule would include: at Illinois, vs. Ohio State, at Indiana, vs. Northwestern, vs. Nebraska and at Minnesota.

The Hawkeyes are averaging 21.3 points per game and won at home against Michigan State and Purdue with former Wisconsin quarterback Deacon Hill under center. Michigan transfer Cade McNamara tore his ACL in the first quarter of the Michigan State game Sept. 30. Hill was 6-for-21 for 110 yards, one touchdown and an interception against Purdue, and he didn’t complete a pass to a wide receiver in his start.

He announced his intentions to enter the transfer portal from Wisconsin on Oct. 9, 2022, shortly after Paul Chryst was fired. He was set to attend Fordham of the Patriot league before Iowa analyst John Budmayr, Wisconsin’s former QB coach, reached out.

Before moving on, Wetzel compared the Big Ten West to the MAC-plus like the Best Western-plus commercials. It was a not-so-smooth transition into his “Big Ten corn rankings” that he pulled by state from the Department of Agriculture, albeit not including New Jersey or Maryland. Perhaps Badgers fans have additional trash talk ammunition as a result.

“The Big Ten West can’t even grow corn anymore,” Wetzel said before listing Pennsylvania No. 1 at 21% of corn being excellent followed by “always steady” Ohio (15%) and Nebraska (14%). “Bad on the field, good in the field, Nebraska, they’re holding up the Big Ten West.”

Wisconsin and Michigan are tied for fourth at 12%, then Illinois (10%), Indiana (9%), Minnesota (7%) and finally Iowa (6%): “Brian Ferentz can’t even grow corn, man. Are you going to blame that on him?” Wetzel said.

“Sure, why not?” Forde, laughing, closed the book on the segment.

Iowa at Wisconsin football picks

Then it was Dellenger who offered his lock of the week: “Wisconsin is a 10-point favorite, come on now. Has the Vegas odds bettors not seen Iowa’s defense? I know Iowa’s offense might not score 10 points, but they might not need to. Give me Iowa as the lock of the week to cover the 10 in Camp Randall.”

It was then Forde’s turn, and he believes it was a podcast first.

“Well this is interesting, because I want to take the other side for my lock of the week. I want the Badgers laying the 10,” he said. “The stat Wetzel had, I guess it was Sunday, about Deacon Hill who completed zero passes to the wide receivers last week … Deacon Hill’s first start on the road at Wisconsin, they’re jumping around, I think Wisconsin wins this, like, 17-3.”

Dellenger’s record is 21-16-2 against the spread while Forde is 14-23-2. A long standing joke is TAP Forde, going against Pat’s picks, whose record would lead Dellenger and the pod at 23-14-2.