Beating Iowa would mean 'everything' to these Wisconsin football upperclassmen
The Badgers hope to regain the Heartland Trophy this weekend and snap a three-game losing streak to the Hawkeyes.
MADISON, Wis. — Darryl Peterson III needs no reminder of what’s at stake this weekend against a storied rival.
A trophy case sits in the middle of the University of Wisconsin football team’s locker room, and lopsided losses to Iowa, Nebraska and Minnesota last season have now left it barren. That’s serving as “big motivation” heading into this weekend’s 6 p.m. matchup against Iowa, according to Peterson, as the team looks to avenge last season’s 42-10 defeat at Kinnick Stadium.
“I think even so obviously this week especially, being able to walk past it every day, see it’s empty, knowing that we got a chance to put one back in there,” he said.
“Especially me being a senior, my last time playing these guys. Big emphasis for us this week.”
Peterson’s among 12 players who currently remain from the 2021 Wisconsin team that last beat Iowa, and according to Wisconsin’s participation log, not one of them played in that win. Saturday’s 6 p.m. kickoff against the Hawkeyes allows these Badgers an opportunity to not only contribute, but also snap a three-game losing streak to their foe that started in 2022.
Peterson, graduate outside linebacker Aaron Witt and senior wide receiver Vinny Anthony II all echoed each other nearly verbatim in their initial words answering what it would mean to beat Iowa in their final opportunity to do so.
It would mean everything.
“It’d mean everything because we lost all the trophies last year,” said Witt, who is a former Iowa commit. “There’s not a trophy in the trophy case. So if we were to start off the rivalry games, putting a trophy back where it belongs, that would mean the world.”