Iowa

Iowa exploits flaws on both sides of the ball, leaves Wisconsin football coach Luke Fickell ‘dumbfounded’ by loss

Published

5 months ago

October 12, 2025

Iowa exploits flaws on both sides of the ball, leaves Wisconsin football coach Luke Fickell ‘dumbfounded’ by loss

MADISON – Luke Fickell stood in front of the media after a loss at Alabama a few weeks ago and talked about the need for him to stay positive with his young team.

And while there is a need for that from the coach more than ever, the reality is that these are dark days for the Wisconsin Badgers football program.

Its 37-0 loss to Iowa on Saturday Oct. 11 at Camp Randall Stadium was the Badgers’ fourth straight loss this season and eighth straight Big Ten defeat dating to last year.

The outcome was stunning because UW had this game circled on the schedule. The team was humbled in a 42-10 loss in Iowa City last year. The Hawkeyes’ visit to Camp Randall was supposed to be a day of atonement. Instead, the Badgers lost by an even larger margin while suffering their first shutout at the hands of the Hawkeyes since 1996.

Overall the game marked the first time Wisconsin was shut out since a 59-0 loss to Ohio State in the Big Ten championship game in 2014.

The loss left Fickell in search of answers.

“I apologized to our guys to not have them ready, to not have them ready,” he said. “I’m dumbfounded in a lot of ways.”

Badgers offense equals season-low 209 total yards

The team’s struggles on offense once again made the game difficult for the rest of the team.

The Badgers faced the 113^th-ranked offense in the nation and made the game easy for it with three turnvers during the first 16 minutes. As a result, Iowa needed to gain only 46 yards to score 17 of its first 20 points.

The UW defense, which allowed 329 rushing yards to the Hawkeyes last season, allowed just 210 this time. That total, however, is deceiving. Iowa’s 5.8 yards per carry compared to the 6.1 yards it averaged against the Badgers last season shows a performance very comparable to a year ago.

That said, the UW’s three early turnovers didn’t give the team a chance.

Anyone who has watched the Badgers this season knew that a deficit of that magnitude would be very difficult to overcome. The Badgers haven’t scored more than twice in three previous games. And in each of those contests that second score came late in the fourth quarter, long after the game was decided and the opponent began pulling key players.

“Not that you can go back and change it, but I hope and believe that had that not started the way it did (with) the turnovers, at least it would have been a hell of a lot different game,” Fickell said. “I’m not saying they’re not a better team than we are. I just think that it’s not fair that we were not able to put ourselves in a position where we could make it a damn football game.”

QB Hunter Simmons’ turnovers were debilitating

Southern Illinois transfer Hunter Simmons finished the night with 82 yards on 8-for-21 passing and the dubious distinction of having two passes picked off by defensive linemen.

The first came off a pass deflected by defensive end Brian Allen and caught with a diving effort by Bryce Hawthrone at the UW 24 with 3 minutes 52 seconds to go in the first quarter. Defensive tackle Aaron Graves got the second interception when he dropped into coverage and right into the path of Simmons’ throw to Vinny Anthony. Graves returned the pick 35 yards to the Badgers 1 at the 1:45 mark of the first quarter.

Simmons’ third turnover, a lateral he threw with the defense bearing down on him, gave Iowa a first down at the Badgers’ 28 50 seconds into the second quarter.

Turnovers at the QB position by Danny O’Neil and now Simmons have put the Badgers in tough spots this season.

One of the beauties of first-year offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes’ offense is its ability to be productive without high-level quarterback play. That hasn’t come to fruition yet at Wisconsin, which has been hit with the injury of Billy Edwards (sprained knee) at the position and erratic play of backups O’Neil and Simmons. The Badgers’ 209 total yards Saturday equaled a season low and marked their fourth straight game with fewer than 300.

“This is not going to be an easy fix,” Fickell said. “Pound the rock is the idea. Something has to break at some point and time. I’m not going to say tonight was an opportunity for that, but every night, every Saturday is an opportunity for that and it did not happen tonight.”

UW’s woes come as once-struggling Big Ten programs thrive

As far as bad losses go, add this to a list that in the Fickell era that includes the 20-14 loss at Indiana in 2023, setbacks in 2024 to Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota and losses to Alabama, Maryland and Iowa this year.

Wisconsin’s poor performances are coming at a time when once-struggling programs such as Indiana and Illinois are thriving. UCLA has wins over Penn State and at Michigan State since firing DeShaun Foster. Northwestern upset Penn State on the road Saturday.

While the Badgers made improvements to elements of their roster, the results show that they have not outpaced what other teams are doing.

The situation leaves Fickell with a 15-17 record at Wisconsin facing the biggest challenge of his career and little reason to believe change is around the corner. Opportunity, however, knocks the next two weeks when UW hosts No. 1 Ohio State on Oct. 18 and travels to No. 2 Oregon on Oct. 25.

Saturday night the coach was asked if he believed he can turn around the program.

“There is nothing I can say out here publically that is any different. What matters is what is said in that (locker) room,” Fickell said. “I don’t fault you for asking. I don’t think people should think anything different, but the truth of the mattter is this is not an easy fix and we’ve got a hell of a long way to go.”

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Iowa

No. 3 Michigan holds off a late run by Iowa, beats the Hawkeyes 71-68

Published

6 hours ago

March 6, 2026

Press Room

No. 3 Michigan holds off a late run by Iowa, beats the Hawkeyes 71-68

IOWA CITY, Iowa — IOWA CITY, Iowa (AP) — Morez Johnson Jr. and Yaxel Lendeborg scored 16 points apiece, and Aday Mara had two tiebreaking shots in the final 1:22 as No. 3 Michigan defeated Iowa 71-68 on Thursday night.

The Wolverines (28-2, 18-1 Big Ten) were held 18 points below their season scoring average, but managed to hold off the Hawkeyes (20-10, 10-9) in the closing seconds.

Iowa went on an 11-1 run to tie the game at 64 with 1:56 to play before Mara banked in a shot before the shot clock expired, putting Michigan in front again. After Iowa’s Cam Manyawu scored inside to tie the game at 66, Mara, who finished with 14 points on 7-for-10 shooting, scored off a lob with 43 seconds left to put the Wolverines ahead to stay.

Iowa had chances to tie the game on back-to-back possessions, but missed three shots on one of the possessions and lost the ball on another after a turnover by Tavion Banks with seven seconds left.

The Hawkeyes had a final chance to tie the game after Lendeborg made two free throws with four seconds remaining, but Bennett Stirtz’s 3-pointer try was long.

Elliot Cadeau added 11 points for the Wolverines, the Big Ten regular-season champions.

Stirtz led Iowa with 21 points. Manyawu had 14.

Michigan had a 38-25 rebounding edge on the Hawkeyes.

The game was tied at 30 at halftime. Michigan shot 50% from the field, but committed 12 turnovers that Iowa turned into 16 points.

The Hawkeyes were 11 of 31 from the field, with Stirtz especially struggling to make shots. Stirtz, Iowa’s leading scorer this season, made just one of his first nine shots, then hit back-to-back 3-pointers in a 27-second span to give Iowa a 30-28 lead.

Up next

Michigan: Hosts No. 8 Michigan State on Sunday.

Iowa: At No. 9 Nebraska on Sunday.

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Iowa

Iowa women’s wrestling star Kylie Welker on competing for official NCAA championship

Published

18 hours ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

Iowa women’s wrestling star Kylie Welker on competing for official NCAA championship

Wrestling-Women

March 5, 2026

Iowa women’s wrestling star Kylie Welker on competing for official NCAA championship

March 5, 2026

Kylie Welker chats with NCAA Digital’s Sophie Starkey about the success of Iowa women’s wrestling and the possibility of winning the inaugural NCAA sanctioned championship.

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Iowa

Iowa House OKs ‘3 strikes’ bill with 20-year prison terms. What to know

Published

1 day ago

March 5, 2026

Press Room

Iowa House OKs ‘3 strikes’ bill with 20-year prison terms. What to know

Iowans who commit multiple serious crimes would face a mandatory 20-year prison sentence under a “three strikes” bill passed by House lawmakers.
Republicans said the bill would keep Iowans safe and “prioritize victims and public safety over criminals.”
A nonpartisan state agency says the bill would disproportionately impact Black Iowans and could require the state to spend millions to build a new prison.

Repeat offenders convicted of multiple serious crimes would receive a mandatory 20-year prison sentence under a bill passed by House lawmakers.

House lawmakers debated for more than an hour about high costs, lack of prison space and the bill’s impact on Black Iowans before voting 68-23 to pass House File 2542, sending it to the Iowa Senate.

Seven Democrats, including Minority Leader Brian Meyer, D-Des Moines, joined Republicans in voting in favor of the bill.

“It will put public safety first,” said the bill’s floor manager, Rep. Steven Holt, R-Denison. “It will ensure that the debt to victims and society is paid. It will prioritize victims and public safety over criminals. It will establish real and effective deterrence that is nonexistent in our current system. It will reduce chaos and violence in our society.”

Here’s what to know about the bill.

What would the House Republican three strikes bill do?

Iowans who accumulate three strikes would face a mandatory 20-year prison sentence, with no parole, under the bill.

That would replace Iowa’s current law that says habitual offenders must serve a minimum three-year prison sentence before they are eligible for parole.

All felonies, as well as aggravated misdemeanors involving sexual abuse, domestic abuse, assault and organized retail theft would be considered level-one offenses that are worth one full strike.

Other aggravated misdemeanors, as well as serious misdemeanors involving assault, domestic abuse and criminal mischief would be considered level-two offenses worth half a strike each.

Lawmakers amended the bill to remove theft, harassment and possession of a controlled substance from the crimes that would count toward a person’s strikes.

And the amendment specifies that the bill would only apply to convictions that occur beginning July 1, 2026.

If someone is arrested and convicted of multiple offenses, only the most serious charge would count towards the defendant’s strikes.

Convictions would not count toward someone’s total if more than 20 years passes between a prior conviction and their current conviction.

Rep. Ross Wilburn, D-Ames, tried unsuccessfully to amend the bill to say that only a violent crime would qualify as someone’s third strike, but Republicans rejected the amendment.

“The bill still scores murder, felony embezzlement and felony theft the same, even though they are very different crimes,” Wilburn said. “One point is one point and three gets you 20 years with no ability for parole or judicial discretion.”

Holt said the legislation leaves room for judicial and prosecutorial discretion.

“There are deferred sentences, there are plea bargains,” he said. “There is plenty of opportunity for grace and judicial discretion in the legislation that we are proposing.”

Bill could cost millions, require Iowa to build a new prison, agency says

A fiscal analysis of the bill by the nonpartisan Legislative Services Agency said it could cost Iowa nearly $165 million more per year by 2031 based on the cost of housing inmates for longer prison stays.

FY 2027: $33 million
FY 2028: $66 million
FY 2029: $99 million
FY 2030: $132 million
FY 2031: $164.9 million

The agency said if the bill had been in effect between fiscal year 2020 and fiscal year 2025, there would have been 5,373 people who qualified for the 20-year mandatory minimum sentence.

“An increase in the prison population due to increased (length of stay) will require the DOC to build additional prison(s),” the agency states. “The size, security and other features that a future prison may require cannot be determined, but costs would be significant.”

The analysis noted that South Dakota appropriated $650 million last fall to build a 1,500-bed prison.

As of March 1, the Iowa Department of Corrections’ website describes the state’s prison system as being overcrowded by 25%, with 8,705 inmates compared to a capacity of 6,990.

The Office of the State Public Defender could see a projected cost increase of $1.6 million due to an increased number of trials resulting from the legislation.

But the agency’s estimates come with a caveat — the Department of Corrections did not respond to its requests for data.

“The LSA has not received a response to multiple requests for information from the DOC,” the note states. “Without additional information, the LSA cannot estimate the total fiscal impact of the bill.”

Holt called the fiscal note “an embarrassment to the Department of Corrections” and “an agenda masquerading as math.”

“It is clear, in my judgment, that because they did not like the legislation they went all out and extreme to create a fiscal note that cannot be taken seriously in its assumptions,” he said. “It assumes that nothing will change, that there will be no deterrent factor and that the numbers will continue as usual.”

Black Iowans would be disproportionately impacted by the law

The Legislative Services Agency analysis says the bill “may disproportionately impact Black individuals if trends remain constant.”

Of the 29,438 people convicted in fiscal year 2025 of felonies and aggravated misdemeanors that constitute a level one offense under the bill, the agency said about 70% were White, 22% were Black and 9% were other races.

Iowa’s overall population is 83% White, 4% Black and 13% other races, the agency said.

It’s not clear how the bill’s impact would change to account for the House amendment removing some crimes from counting towards the three strikes.

“Expanding three-strike laws will intensify disparities — and that’s what this statement shows — by mandating longer sentences, limiting judicial discretion,” Wilburn said. “We already have a habitual offender statute. We already have one in place. We have a 10-year low in recidivism in our correctional system.”

Rep. Angel Ramirez, D-Cedar Rapids, said California’s three strikes law, passed in the 1990s, worsened racial disparities, and “Iowa is about to repeat the same mistake.”

“I urge every member here, do not pass legislation that our own minority impact statement tells us will deepen inequality in our state,” Ramirez said.

Holt said minority communities in Iowa are impacted by crime and that the legislation “will make citizens of all colors safer.”

And he said the minority impact statement “tells only one side of the story, doesn’t it? It tells the criminal’s story. What about the victim’s story?”

“What about the mother who will continue to tuck her kids in at night and read them Bible stories because she never became the next victim of a violent career criminal?” he said. “Where is that data point in the minority impact statement?”

House lawmakers also approved separate legislation that would increase Iowa’s statewide bond schedule, Senate File 2399.

That bill passed on a vote of 74-19.

Iowans could see more information on judges’ rulings

Iowans would have access to more information about judges’ rulings ahead of the state’s judicial retention elections under a separate measure, House File 2719, which passed on a 73-19 vote.

The Iowa secretary of state’s office would be required to publish information including:

The percentage of cases in which the judge set a bond amount lower than the state’s bond schedule
The frequency that the judge releases someone on their own recognizance for a violent offense compared to a nonviolent offense
The frequency that the judge’s final sentence is lower than statutory recommendations or a prosecutor’s recommendations
The number of times the judge issues a deferred judgement, deferred sentence or suspended sentence
The number of times the judge’s rulings are reversed on appeal due to abuse of discretion or error of law
The average time it takes the judge to rule on a motion or case
The number of cases the judge has resolved compared to the number of cases on the judge’s docket

The data would have to be displayed with a five-year trend line beginning five years after the bill takes effect.

The Secretary of State’s Office would also be required to maintain a searchable database of all judicial opinions and orders for the judge’s current term and the preceding six years. The decisions would be redacted when appropriate.

And judges would have the opportunity to write a 2,000-word personal statement on their judicial philosophy or data trends present in their rulings.

Stephen Gruber-Miller covers the Iowa Statehouse and politics for the Register. He can be reached by email at sgrubermil@registermedia.com or by phone at 515-284-8169. Follow him on X at @sgrubermiller.

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