First off, the subs really made big plays. After missing last week against Illinois, D’Cota Dixon played the first few series before leaving the game and being replaced by senior Joe Ferguson. A week after making a crucial pick to keep the Badgers ahead by two scores against Illinois, Ferguson came up with three big turnovers to help the Badgers take over this game. He is the first Wisconsin player with three takeaways in a game since Jamar Fletcher had three interceptions of Oregon's Joey Harrington in 2000. His first take away came with Bucky trailing 10-7 midway through the second quarter. Following a Wisconsin punt, Indiana’s Morgan Ellison was tackled for a loss, fumbled and Ferguson recovered. Two plays later, Wisconsin turned the fumble recovery into points, a lead it would never relinquish. Next, with the Badgers holding on to a slim seven point lead, Ferguson stepped in front of a Richard Lagow pass and picked it off, giving them a first down inside the Hoosiers 30. Seven plays later, Wisconsin took a 31-17 lead. If that wasn’t enough, he picked off another Lagow pass on Indiana’s next possession. That pick also set up a score to put the game away. Despite being a reserve, he leads the team in picks with four.
Alec Ingold, playing in place of Austin Ramesh at fullback, had five touches (four runs and one catch)......and scored three touchdowns. Not a bad touchdown-to-touch-ratio. One of his non-scores was just as big, as well. On 4th-and-1 in the fourth quarter with Wisconsin clinging to a one score lead, Ingold plowed ahead for a run of two and a first down, which set up his second touchdown to give Bucky a 31-17 advantage. Also, how about Tyler Johnson? He was the one who forced the Ellison fumble that turned the tide in the game. That fumble helped Wisconsin take the lead in the second quarter. The walk-on also made a huge impact late in the game, as he destroyed Lagow on a pass, forcing a throw in which was picked off by Ferguson. Great job by some players filling in.
Once again, Alex Hornibrook had a poor interception. Granted, he was hit as he threw, but it was an interception in the end zone nonetheless. However, he came back in a big way. That is one great thing about the sophomore quarterback. He has a short memory and usually comes back strong following interceptions. Yesterday, the pick happened to come on his first pass of the day. However, after that, he was very solid. Following the interception, he was 13-of-19 the rest of the way for 158 yards and two touchdowns. Two of his completions were tremendous passes. The first was his second touchdown pass, a perfect throw to Cephus, who pulled a Randy Moss with a great catch in the end zone to give the Badgers the lead. Next was his throw on a 3rd-and-2 on Wisconsin’s second drive of the second half. The Badgers were holding on to a 17-10 lead, but were on the verge of squandering great field position. Then, Hornibrook and Kendric Pryor hooked up on a gorgeous 14-yard throw and catch to give Bucky a first down. On the following play, Taylor ran 32 yards for the score to give the Badgers a 24-10 lead. He also made a great throw to A.J. Taylor for 32 yards to set Wisconsin up to cut it to 10-7. Great job by Hornibrook to bounce back after the pick.
Once again, Taylor continues to amaze. People were not even sure if he’d play yesterday, but he did.....and was his usual beastly self. The freshman rushed for 183 yards on 29 carries and a score. He fell just 17 yards shy of his fourth 200-yard performance this season. He leads the Big Ten in both rush yards per game and touchdowns, even ahead of Penn State’s Saquon Barkley. Against Indiana, he forced six missed tackles and had 134 yards after contact. He will need to be at or near full strength next week when Wisconsin hosts Iowa. However, one thing he needs to work on is ball security. It did not hurt the Badgers, but on the touchdown drive to put Bucky in front 31-17, Taylor fumbled once again. Luckily, Michael Deiter recovered the fumble and Ingold punched it in four plays later.
Once again, the defense played great, especially in the final three quarters. Indiana gained more than half of its yardage in the game in the first quarter, which resulted in a touchdown and were on the verge of kicking a field goal. After that, the Wisconsin defense shut down the Indiana offense. Simmie Cobbs was a tough matchup for Nick Nelson, as he had five catches for 62 yards and a score, but he did draw multiple pass interference penalties. It was one of Nelson’s toughest games, but Cobbs causes headaches for many defensive backs. After the Hoosiers were spotted 10 points, the defense closed the door, only allowing seven more points. Only two of the final seven possessions lasted longer than four plays and also only two that went longer than 15 yards, and one of those was the final possession of the game. The Hoosiers came in averaging more than 81 plays per game, but were held to 55 against the Badgers. Indiana also ran 24 of those plays in the first quarter. It is incredible the defense was able to hold the up tempo Indiana offense to 31 plays in the final three quarters. Also, when the Badgers need a play made, the defense always comes through. With Wisconsin holding a touchdown lead, Indiana received the ball after a punt. What does the defense do? Ferguson comes through with an interception. Next drive? Ferguson with another pick to set up the game-sealing touchdown. In the final quarter, the Wisconsin defense forced a pair of turnovers and a turnover on downs and the Indiana offense just ran 10 plays for nine yards. That, my friends, is how you slam the door on the opposition.
Every team deals with injuries, but man, it seems like Wisconsin is constantly hit hard with them. Year after year. I mentioned it a bit above, but the Orr and Cephus injuries are terrible. We don’t know how severe they are, but I think after watching them on the sideline toward the end of the game, I doubt either of them are back soon. Dixon also left the game early. Add them to players like Jack Cicky and Jazz Peavy, who did not play once again. Wisconsin coaches are fearing the worst for Cephus. If that is the case, I just hope he is back for the bowl game. I would hate to see his promising season cut short due to that. At least Taylor came out of the game unscathed, I guess.
It seems like I am beating a dead horse here, but man, the Badgers start out slow. They can never seem to put a full 60 minutes together. In some games, Wisconsin scores a couple quick touchdowns early and then takes a nap the rest of the game like against Florida Atlantic and Purdue. In this one, the nap was taken in the first quarter. Indiana jumped out to a 10-0 lead and the Badgers looked awful. No energy, missed tackles, turnovers, penalties, blown coverages.....anything that could go wrong, went wrong in the opening quarter. This game followed a similar script as the Utah State season opener, where the Badgers spotted the opponent 10 points, only to dominate the rest of the game. A 32-yard pass from Hornibrook to A.J. Taylor got things rolling for the Wisconsin offense, and it never looked back. The penalty fest in the final minutes of the second quarter was annoying. Two of the three holdings were questionable, but nonetheless, Wisconsin had a chance to go up 17-10 or 21-10 before the half and could not do it. These are things the Badgers need to shore up soon because Iowa is rolling in, coming off a 55-24 beatdown of Ohio State. They were able to get away with these things against teams like Illinois and Indiana, but won’t be able to against Iowa and Michigan.
Overall, it was a solid win, especially after spotting Indiana 10 points. It was an 11 am CST kick, so maybe they were still waking up. After they did, though, it was ball game. I am still not super concerned because they keep making plays at the perfect time. I am concerned about the injuries, though. Playing against Iowa without your top two wide receivers would be rough. As I mentioned above, the Hawkeyes rolled over No. 6 Ohio State by 31 at Kinnick Stadium yesterday. That should get Wisconsin’s attention. It should be a fun one next weekend in Madison at 2:30 CST. The game will be televised on ABC.
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