Iowa’s quarterback Nate Stanley will probably feel weird gracing the Camp Randall turf on Saturday afternoon. He is a Wisconsin native from Menomonie who ended up at Iowa instead of Wisconsin. It’s not every day that the state of Wisconsin has a talented high school quarterback who can play at the next level not go to the University. It’s not like they are knee-deep in talented quarterbacks. According to his high school coach, the only reason that Stanley is at Iowa and not Wisconsin is former coach Gary Andersen.

This is a great article by the Wisconsin State Journal’s Jim Polzin as this will be an added element to the Iowa-Wisconsin rivalry for the next few years. Stanley has been great in his sophomore campaign for the Hawkeyes. He’s thrown for 1929 yards with 22 touchdowns and only four interceptions. Other than Week 1, the former Menomonie standout thrown for at least 190 yards in each game and threw five touchdowns in two games on two separate occasions this year. Could you imagine this quarterback with Jonathan Taylor at running back? It’s a fantasy that Badgers fans can only dream about during the game.

Even though Paul Chryst, the current Wisconsin coach, tried to recruit Stanley at Pittsburgh then again at Wisconsin, revenge will be on his mind. Wisconsin’s secondary showed some cracks last week especially with Nick Nelson. The Iowa quarterback spreads the ball around and has a true tight end threat with Rashad Fant around the goal line. My guess is the nerves will be high early on, but Stanley should settle into a nice groove. Wisconsin’s defense will have to be much better than what Ohio State did last week. This isn’t your same Hawkeyes grind em out offense, and the quarterback is much of the reason why.

So when you see Iowa go on offense and do good things, remember if not for Anderson, he would be in a different color on a different sideline.

Charlie.