IOWA CITY, Iowa -- The Heartland Trophy no longer sits in the atrium outside Iowa's football offices, and it won't be coming back until at least 2013.
Iowa's annual series against Wisconsin goes on hiatus the next two seasons, thanks to Big Ten expansion. The Hawkeyes and Badgers have been placed in opposite divisions without a protected crossover, allowing the rivalry to be put on hold for certain stretches. This fall will mark just the third time since 1936 that Iowa and Wisconsin don't play (the teams didn't meet in 1993 or 1994). And since Wisconsin won last year's game in Iowa City, the Hawkeyes must wait until Nov. 2, 2013, to reclaim the big brass bull.
"It is going to be strange not playing Wisconsin, I'll definitely say that," Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said Friday. "That's going to be a little different, certainly. ... Wisconsin's obviously been a border rivalry, but the positives are we're flipping it for another border rivalry."
That would be Nebraska-Iowa, which has all the ingredients to become one of the Big Ten's most exciting matchups.
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