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White carries Wisconsin over Iowa

Nov 3, 2013 - 1:19 AM Iowa City, IA (SportsNetwork.com) - James White carried the ball 19 times for 132 yards and two touchdowns in the 22nd-ranked Wisconsin Badgers' 28-9 victory over the Iowa Hawkeyes.

Both of White's scores came in the fourth quarter for Wisconsin (6-2, 4-1 Big Ten), which has won three in a row and sits one game behind Ohio State for first place in the Leaders Division. Melvin Gordon rushed for 62 yards on 17 carries.

Joel Stave completed 11-of-19 passes for 144 yards, two touchdowns and an interception for the Badgers, whose last 12 wins have come by a double-digit margin.

Jake Rudock connected on 12-of-24 passes for 109 yards and an interception for the Hawkeyes (5-4, 2-3), who have lost three of four. C.J. Beathard completed 4-of-16 passes for 70 yards and an interception in relief.

Holding a 14-9 lead early in the fourth quarter, Wisconsin came up with a big play on defense when Beathard was intercepted by Pat Muldoon at the Iowa 25- yard line with less than eight minutes to play.

Jacob Pedersen caught a 15-yard pass shortly after to move the ball to the 11- yard line. White followed with a TD run to make it 21-9 with 6:29 left.

On the next Wisconsin possession, White recorded a 59-yard run to put the ball inside the Iowa 20-yard line. He later scored from two yards out to make it a 28-9 contest.

The Hawkeyes then moved the ball to the Wisconsin 11-yard line before turning the ball over on downs.

"It was an outstanding football game from our perspective for at least 50 minutes," said Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz. "But we couldn't finish the game. They did a heck of a job doing that."

Stave's first pass of the game was intercepted by Tanner Miller at the Iowa 43-yard line. The Hawkeyes, though, went three-and-out on offense.

Iowa started its next drive from the Wisconsin 39-yard line following Drew Meyer's 23-yard punt. The Hawkeyes moved the ball to the 11 before settling for a 28-yard field goal from Mike Meyer.

Wisconsin picked up its initial first down of the contest in the early stages of the second quarter. The Badgers, however, failed to move the ball past their own 37 before punting.

Meyer made another field goal on the ensuing Iowa possession. The Hawkeyes moved the ball all the way down to the Wisconsin 3-yard line before Meyer made a 22-yard field goal.

The Badgers finally got something going on offense on their next drive. The visitors ran the ball five straight times before Pedersen caught a 44-yard TD pass from Stave. The ensuing extra point made it 7-6 Wisconsin with less than two minutes left in the first half.

On the final possession of the half, Wisconsin kicker Jack Russell missed a 54-yard field goal.

With less than eight minutes remaining in the third quarter, Rudock was intercepted by Darius Hillary at the Iowa 20-yard line. It took the Badgers just one play to capitalize off the turnover, as Jared Abbrederis caught a touchdown pass from Stave.

Meyer made a 29-yard field goal with 38 seconds to go in the third to cut Wisconsin's lead to 14-9.

Game Notes

The Badgers retained the Heartland Trophy and improved to 43-42-2 in the all- time series ... The Badgers became bowl eligible for the 12th consecutive season.