It was not the prettiest of games, but the Badgers came away with the win. Despite being favored by nearly five touchdowns, Wisconsin won 31-14 over Lane Kiffin’s bunch. The Badgers dominated in total yards (Wisconsin outgained FAU 564-248) and time of possession (38:34-21:26), but Wisconsin made mistake after mistake which helped Florida Atlantic stay in the game until late in the third quarter. In place of injured Bradrick Shaw, freshman Jonathan Taylor had a tremendous game, rushing for 226 yards and scoring three touchdowns. The Badgers were able to jump out to the fast start I talked about in the preview article, but were only able to score 10 points in the game’s final 39 minutes. Like always, Wisconsin did some things well, but there were many things from this game the team will need to clean up because a trip to Provo, Utah, for the first road game against Brigham Young looms.
Like always, I will start with the positives. The list will obviously start with the freshman tailback. I mentioned his numbers above, but it goes beyond that. His balance and strength to break tackles is incredible. He has it all and we are lucky to have him for at least the next three seasons. Taylor is the first true freshman to start a game for the Badgers since Dwayne Smith in 2002. His best run of the game was his second touchdown run. He was stacked up behind the line of scrimmage, but broke free and was able to break no fewer than four tackles before running down the left sideline for the score. There is not much more to say about him other than “wow.” When Shaw comes back, Taylor will become that much more lethal.
Chris James had a nice bounce back game, rushing 16 times for 101 yards. Obviously, it is a much better performance than week one where he had five carries for 15 yards and a fumble. James still has not shown much ability in the passing game, despite having a lot of hype in that area in camp.
Lastly, the defense in the second half was very impressive. After giving up a few big plays in the first half, the defense put the clamps on Florida Atlantic’s offense in the second half. On 21 plays in half No. 2, the Owls just gained 50 yards and had just two first downs. The Badgers defense has still not allowed any points in the second half this year and has outscored their opponents 56-0 overall in the final halves. There is still plenty of work to do on that side of the ball, but this is something to build on.
Now, onto the negatives, and unfortunately, there were plenty. First of all, as good as sophomore quarterback Alex Hornibrook was last week, he was that poor yesterday. His numbers were okay yesterday afternoon, going 16-of-28 for 201 yards and one touchdown and one interception. However, when he missed, he missed bad. And even some of his completions were behind receivers. His interception in the second half was as horrible of a throw I’ve seen him make. And sometimes when he did throw a good pass, it was dropped. On two occasions, the normally sure-handed Troy Fumagalli dropped passes on third down that would have been first downs. He still had a nice game, catching a career-high eight passes for 92 yards and a touchdown, but it could have been even better.
There is no excuse for Wisconsin to not be able to make one yard in three plays down at the goal line. The Badgers need to punch that in. This has been a theme the last five or six years. They normally have a tremendous offensive line, so they should be able to score every single time when given three chances at the opponent’s one. Wisconsin also made too many mistakes. I mentioned being stopped three times from the Owls 1 and the awful Hornibrook interception, but after a big run, Taylor fumbled. Wisconsin won’t win too many games losing the turnover battle 2-0.
And finally, Wisconsin’s pass rush accepted my challenge and were able to sack Florida Atlantic’s Daniel Parr five times. However, mostly in the first half, the Badgers could not get any pass rush. Two of the sacks came in the first half, but the Owls only lost four total yards on those. The three sacks in the second half totaled 18 yards, so that was much better. It needs to be much more consistent, though. That would help limit big plays. Florida Atlantic hit a few big plays in week one and hit another yesterday.
The Badgers will hit the road for the first time next Saturday as they take on the BYU Cougars in Provo, Utah. BYU is 1-2 and has lost its last two after losing to in-state rival Utah at home last night.
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