MADISON — Iowa defensive back Sebastian Castro may not be a meteorologist, but he felt Saturday's win coming.
"I don't know if it was just me, but I could feel it in the air," Castro said. "I came out feeling good from the get-go, and the mood never changed. I wouldn't say we were gaining momentum; I come into the game with that momentum, and we all try to do that."
Castro capped a sensational performance with a game-sealing interception, icing the Hawkeyes' 15-6 win at Wisconsin, putting Iowa alone at the top of the Big Ten West at 3-1 in conference play and holding the tiebreaker over the Badgers (2-1); no other West team is above .500 in the Big Ten through Week 7.
Castro, a senior CASH defender, finished with seven tackles (all solo), two tackles-for-loss, a pass break-up and the final INT, strengthening his case for All-Big Ten honors this year — if not even loftier heights.
Still, this was squarely a defensive team win for the Hawkeyes, who held an opponent under 10 points for the first time in 2023. And not just any team — the Wisconsin Badgers, who came into the game averaging 31.2 points per game, tops in the Big Ten West, and who hadn't lost to Iowa in Camp Randall since 2015.
"[It was like] a defensive dream," Hawkeye linebacker Jay Higgins said. "Any time you can give up six points to a good team like that — good running back, good offensive line — really proud of our guys."
The Badgers' offense has been revamped this season by new head coach Luke Fickell and offensive coordinator Phil Longo (formerly of SMU), bringing a spread offense to what's arguably been the epicenter of bruising college football in Madison, Wisconsin.
Ironically, though, Wisconsin following the tides of college football meant the Hawkeye defense knew what to expect from the Badgers — it's practically standard-issue in the sport by now.
"We've been playing a lot of spread offenses this year, so we had a lot of practice against that," Castro said. "This game was going to come down to physicality, and I feel like we came out there and we did just that."
Wisconsin spent the second half with backup quarterback Braedyn Locke under center, after starter Tanner Mordecai hit his hand on Higgins' helmet on a throw late in the second quarter.
"I wouldn't say our defense really changed, it's how they changed their offense, so we just had to react to that," Castro said. "You can say we changed the gameplan, little tweaks here and there, but that was a big factor. Different personnel, different quarterback and that's a big piece of their offense."
"Any time there's a backup quarterback, we know the gameplan's going to change, things will look different," Higgins said. "But I feel like [Locke] did a really good job when he came in. He was checking a lot of stuff because we were sending a lot of pressure, so hats off to him — I think he did a really good job."
Indeed, Locke led the Badgers to two field-goal drives in the third quarter — the Badgers' only points of the game, as it turned out — but Iowa clamped down on him and the Wisconsin offense once the fourth quarter began.
With Iowa nursing a 10-6 lead early in the final frame, Wisconsin took over on its own 8-yard line after a holding penalty on a kick return. On the second play of the drive, Iowa sent pressure at the pocket, and defensive tackle Yahya Black — all 315 pounds of him — drilled Locke in the end zone, forcing a fumble that the Badgers recovered in their own end zone.
The safety pushed Iowa's lead to 12-6, and more importantly gave the Hawkeyes the ball in the driver's seat with the clock ticking away.
"I was hoping they weren't going to see me, because I was trying not to give it away," said Castro, who blitzed on the play and forced Locke into the hit by Black. "The quarterback almost got away too, so thanks to Yahya. It was a little guy too; I had to slow down just to get him."
Key also to the win was punter Tory Taylor, who — while not technically a defender — pinned Wisconsin inside its 20 six times as part of a 10-punt, 506-yard performance.
"He rides on [the defense's] bus with us," Higgins said after the game with a smile.
That field-position battle isn't just conceptual, either; Iowa stopped Wisconsin on downs on its first drive of the game, but only after the Badgers had driven 81 yards after being pinned deep by a Taylor punt — yardage that would have gotten them into the end zone if Taylor's punt had been downed for a touchback.
"As a defense, that just opens up our playbook," Higgins said. "Coach [Phil] Parker's going to be extremely aggressive when we're down there. Any time we can get out there and the ball's on the 9 and they've got to march 90 yards to score on us, that just gives us confidence."
"When you have confidence in the guy punting, that gives you some options in play-calling, situational awareness, those kinds of things," Ferentz said. "The impact [Taylor]'s had, it's got to be equal to how Reggie Roby was a huge part of our success in 1981."
And though Iowa won by multiple scores Saturday, its habit of four-quarter, close games is exactly what the defense wants.
"I like those low-scoring games defensively," Higgins said. "That puts the pressure on the defense, and that's what we're built for. We want the game in our hands. It's up to us to win the game."
