Thanks, Hawkeyes. But now it's up to the Badgers to win the Big Ten West title.

MADISON – After they had dispatched Nebraska for the seventh consecutive time on Saturday, Wisconsin’s players were able focus on another key Big Ten West Division game:

Minnesota at Iowa.

“It was nail-biter toward the end,” senior linebacker Zack Baun said Monday, “but the good guys won.”

The good guys in this instance were the Hawkeyes. Iowa’s 23-19 victory allowed UW (8-2, 5-2 Big Ten) to move within one game of Minnesota (9-1, 6-1) with two regular-season games left.

“We were Hawkeyes fans at that moment,” Baun joked. “Not anymore.”

UW hosts Purdue at 3 p.m. Saturday. Minnesota faces host Northwestern at 11 a.m. Saturday. If the Badgers defeat Purdue, they can clinch a berth in the Big Ten title game with a victory over the Gophers when the teams meet at 2:30 p.m. on Nov. 30 in Minneapolis.

“It doesn’t change anything for us,” senior linebacker Chris Orr said. “It doesn’t really change anything we need to do. It just makes stuff a little more realistic.

“It doesn’t change who we are or change what we need to do.”

Even a Minnesota loss this week at Northwestern wouldn’t change UW’s path to the Big Ten title game.

SUBMIT QUESTIONS:UW football chat with Jeff Potrykus at 7 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 19

UW must beat Purdue and Minnesota.

“Coming into the month we knew what we had do to,” Baun said. “Play good November football. It’s not over yet. We haven’t accomplished what we wanted to accomplish. We’ve still got two more games.”

What Iowa’s victory over Minnesota accomplished was giving the Badgers a realistic path to Indianapolis.

“It is in our control again and that’s how we wanted it,” redshirt junior center Tyler Biadasz said. “It is just on us (now) and that’s what we want. That is what we intend to do. Focus on Purdue this week.”

UW carries a 13-game winning streak against Purdue into this weekend.

Injuries have forced the Boilermakers to use their top three quarterbacks this season. Still, Purdue (4-6, 3-4) has victories over Nebraska and Northwestern in its last two games and was off last week.

Orr also noted that UW has had to battle for four quarters and then some to win the teams’ last two meetings.

UW prevailed, 17-9, in Madison in 2017 and needed three overtimes to record a 47-44 victory last season at Purdue.

“We’ve been having battles with Purdue,” Orr said. “(Fans) that might be looking past this, (but) it’s not a game like that. …

“They are a really good football team, have a lot of great players and a really good coaching staff, too.”

Fundamentals never fail

A.J. Taylor used strength, balance and speed to elude three Nebraska defenders on his 55-yard touchdown. Yet a critical part of the play’s success was a subtle move Taylor made after he was in the open field.

Taylor caught Jack Coan’s pass at the Nebraska 45, spun off two defenders near the 35 and broke into the open field at the 30. 

With linebacker JoJo Domann pursuing from his right, Taylor switched the ball from his right to his left hand.That prevented Domann from forcing a fumble when he caught Taylor inside the 5 and raked down on Taylor’s right arm. Taylor had the ball in his left arm and extended it across the goal line.

"I think you’re always trying to find coaching points," UW coach Paul Chryst said. "You go back and look at it and so often the little things do make a big difference. It is an example of the little things and how they can become big."

Two UW players honored

Jonathan Taylor and Aron Cruickshank were honored by the Big Ten on Monday. 

Taylor, who rushed 25 times for 204 yards and two touchdowns in the 37-21 victory over Nebraska, was named the league's co-offensive player of the week. 

Cruickshank, who returned a kickoff 89 yards for a touchdown after the Cornhuskers took a 7-0 lead, was the co-special teams player of the week.