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Badgers back in the Top 25 as they prepare to face an Iowa team that has dominated them lately · Best of: Features

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  Badgers back in the Top twenty five as they prepare to face
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  an Iowa team that has dominated them lately. This
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  article is being read by an automated voice generated by Everlet. Madison,
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  Wisconsin the AP. Wisconsin is back in the AP top twenty five
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  for the first time since twenty twenty three, after producing arguably the
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  best victory of coach Luke Fickle's four year tenure. A look at
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  Wisconsin's remaining schedule after its twenty four seven victory over then number
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  sixteen Southern California indicates the twenty five the ranked Badgers, five and
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  two, three and one Big Ten, might have a shot to at
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  least match their combined win total from the last two seasons. But
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  they're not about to look that far ahead, considering the magnitude of
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  this week's challenge. The Badgers go on the road Saturday to face
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  Iowa, five and two, two and two, which has beaten them each
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  of the last four years by a combined one eighteen to twenty
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  six margin. There's a lot of things that haven't gone well for
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  us in this rivalry game, Fickle said Monday. We need to do
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  a whole lot to change it. It's not going to be easy.
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  I don't know if there's a tougher place to play in the
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  country. After Wisconsin allowed three hundred and twenty nine yards rushing in
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  a forty two ten loss at Iowa two years ago, The Badgers
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  did forty two push ups at the end of each practice the
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  following spring to remind them of that embarrassing performance. Iowa then beat
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  the Badgers even more decisively last year, a thirty seven zero drubbing
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  at Wisconsin that marked the Hawkeye's highest point total in Madison, and
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  their first shutout win at Camp Randall Stadium since nineteen twenty nine.
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  Wisconsin has taken a different approach this year after adding thirty four
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  transfers who didn't play against Iowa those last two seasons. The Badgers
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  spent more time focusing on building their own culture and developing chemistry
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  Rather than dwelling on their rivalries. Even so, Fickle understands what's at
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  stake this week. Rivalries are what makes college football, Fickle said. We've
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  got to make sure we understand this is a rivalry, this is
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  the Heartland Trophy. Rising from the depths, Wisconsin has come a
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  long way since those last two blowout losses to Iowa. Saturday's game
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  should serve as a measuring stick for
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  the Badgers progress. The Badgers went four and eight last year after
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  a five seven finish in twenty twenty four that snapped what had
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  been a power four leading streak of twenty two straight winning seasons.
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  Rather than making a coaching change, the athletic director Chris McIntosh brought
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  Fickle back while promising a greater financial investment in the program. Those
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  increased resources helped Wisconsin sign all those transfers, including twenty seven from
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  other Bowl subdivision programs. Wisconsin's offense remains a work in cur progress
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  as Colton Joseph passed for just fifty eight yards against USC. The
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  Badgers have made up for it on defense and special teams. Wisconsin
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  is allowing four point one four yards per play to match Indiana
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  for the second lowest average of any FBS team behind Michigan's four
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  point one zero. The Badgers have an FBS leading five block punts
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  or kicks. The difference in talent level has been evident in Big
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  Ten competition. Wisconsin's twenty four twenty victory at when number thirteen, Penn
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  State last month has lost a bit of luster, now that the
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  Nittany Lions have dropped four straight games. The route of USC solidified
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  Wisconsin's status as one of the nation's more improved teams. Shutting down
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  the run. This is what Wisconsin deserves, said outside linebacker Sebastian Cheeks,
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  who recorded two and a half sacks against USC. Hopefully we get
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  to the point where when we beat ranked teams, this is the
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  standard again. This is what we do as a team. USC had
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  minus seventeen yards rushing, a figure impacted by five sacks, that marked
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  the second fewest the Badgers had given up in school history. USC's
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  seven points represented the second lowest output for any of Lincoln Riley's
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  teams in his ten year head coaching career. Wisconsin is in the
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  top twenty five for the first time since september twenty twenty three,
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  when it was nineteenth before a thirty one twenty two loss at
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  Washington State. The Badgers are one win away from becoming bowl eligible,
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  and their favorable November schedule puts bigger goals within reach. The Badgers
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  next three opponents, after Iowa, Rutgers, Maryland, and Purdue, are a combined
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  seven fourteen. Wisconsin closes the regular season by hosting Minnesota, five and
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  two, three and one, which has beaten the Badgers four of the
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  last five years. I'm happy for this community, happy for these fans,
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  but we've just got to keep stacking it, Cheek said. We've got
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  a big game coming up. Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts
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  here, visit the Top 25 here, and see the AP's full college
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  football coverage here.