The expansion of the Big Ten has brought countless benefits to the league, but one of its major downsides has been the deemphasizing of traditional rivalries. With more teams to play during every conference season, opponents who traditionally faced one another twice a year are often reduced to a mere one-game season series.
The series between Iowa and Wisconsin seems to have been hit hard by this trend of late. While the Hawkeyes and Badgers played at least twice a year nearly every season before the most recent round of expansion, the two rivals have been limited to only one annual matchup in four of the past five years.