Considering the losses from last year’s Orange Bowl team and the injuries to several key players, eight victories has made this an outstanding season for the Iowa Hawkeyes. A ninth victory could land them in a New Years’ Day bowl game, but to beat Wisconsin the Hawks will need to overcome more adversity. Several Hawkeyes came down with the flu over the weekend and coach Kirk Ferentz says even more players are sick today. He says they met with doctors and he says anyone working the building is on medication as a proactive approach to try and prevent it, or make it less severe.Ferentz says the number of players ill reached 20 on Tuesday morning. He says it’s been a year of unusual circumstances, and says this is a nice way to cap the year off.Ferentz credits the success of this team to a senior class that includes kicker Nate Kaeding, safety Bob Sanders and tackle Robert Gallery. He says he can’t imagine Kaeding not being the Lou Groza Award winner again this year as the best in the country. He says Sanders had surgery on his finger last Tuesday and was back in practice full speed Wenesday. Ferentz says he doesn’t make extreme statements, but says if Gallery doesn’t win the Outland Trophy as the best lineman, he says it would be a “travesty.”Wisconsin is 7-4 on the season Badger coach Barry Alvarez says the Hawkeye offense has been improving and displaying more balance. With receiver Lee Evans bouncing back from a knee injury and quarterback Jim Sorgi healthy, again, the Badger offense has been clicking. Alvarez says the Hawkeye defense provides a new challenge. He says his team will not get anything cheap and will have to earn everything it gets. He says his team will have to be real patient.
