It was a team effort, as cliche as it is. However, I will start out with giving props to Hornibrook. This was easily his best performance since BYU. The sophomore quarterback was 15-of-19 for 151 yards and three touchdowns and most importantly, no interceptions. His numbers may not wow you, but he put the ball right on the money most of the time. His best throw was a pass to Kendric Pryor on Wisconsin’s first drive of the second half. Hornibrook took a huge shot, but threw a great pass to Pryor for 31 yards to the Minnesota 11. Three plays later, the Wisconsin quarterback threw a perfect slant pass to Danny Davis for the score that essentially ended any hope for a Gophers comeback. With Minnesota crowding the box on early downs, Hornibrook needed to make plays on first down. He did just that, completing 6-of-6 passes for 85 yards and a touchdown. It was not just his stats, but the velocity of his throws was terrific, fitting the ball into tight windows consistently. He now has 21 touchdown passes this season, which ties him with John Stocco (2005) for third most in school history for touchdown passes in a single season. He trails Joel Stave (2013) by one for second place. His 30 career touchdown passes are ninth all-time. Maybe even more important than having three touchdown passes is the fact that he did not throw an interception. It was the first game in Big Ten play that Hornibrook did not throw it to the opposition. The Wisconsin quarterback has played his best football the last five and a half quarters and will be a hot quarterback going into the date with Ohio State this weekend.
This game was much like the Michigan game in terms of the rushing attack. After gaining just 41 yards on 12 carries (3.4 yards per carry) in the first half, Jonathan Taylor dominated the second half, rushing eight times for 108 yards, including his 53-yard score. His score was only his second touchdown in five games. Those 108 yards came on just two drives in the second half before giving way to Chris James with the game out of reach. Taylor just gets better as the game moves along. He remains third in the nation in rushing yards with 1,806, behind only San Diego State’s Rashaad Penny and Stanford’s Bryce Love. For his efforts, Taylor earned his eighth Big Ten Freshman of the Week honor, surpassing current Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett for most all-time. However, he does have a flaw that came back to bite him again against the Gophers, as he tends to put the ball on the turf. Taylor lost his fifth fumble of the season. He’ll need to clean that up moving forward. That is really the only negative from this game. The freshman standout is making his case to end up in New York for the Heisman Trophy presentation. Taylor won’t win it, but being a finalist for the award would be a tremendous accomplishment. He also has two more years to potentially win the Heisman as well. Going into the season, the Badgers thought they’d have a nice 1-2 punch at running back with Bradrick Shaw and Chris James. But with Shaw not being as effective as many had hoped and James being injured much of the season, Taylor has taken the starting running back job and ran with it, literally. There is no way Bucky is where he is today without Taylor. I will mention also about James in this, as he had a nice game in relief of Taylor, both when he needed a break and when he put in permanently due to the score. With Shaw getting injured in the first half, James carried the ball seven times for 51 yards, including a 29-yard run late in the second quarter that helped set up the Kyle Penniston touchdown to put the Badgers in front 17-0. Bravo Chris James. He will be needed moving forward in the final two (or three) games in relief of Taylor, especially if Shaw is out long term. The team, as a whole, rushed for 287 yards on 39 carries for an average of 7.35 yards per carry. That is the highest yards per carry since rushing for 7.41 yards per carry in the 2015 Outback Bowl win against Auburn.
I mentioned how great the running game was against Minnesota, especially late. Well, much of that has to do with how tremendous the play of the offensive line has been. I mentioned the rushing yards, but the pass protection was great as well. There were very few times Hornibrook was even pressured. And even when he was, more often than not, he delivered a perfect throw like the long pass to Pryor. The play of the line can take some credit for that 15-of-19 showing from Hornibrook. I will throw everybody in there when talking about the blocking. The down field blocking was superb once again. On Austin Ramesh’s 41-yard run, after turning the corner and eluding a defender, Penniston threw a great down field block on Minnesota’s Duke McGhee, springing Ramesh for an extra 15 yards to move Wisconsin into the red zone. Beau Benzschawel also threw some great blocks on long runs for the Badgers. The first was on Garrett Groshek’s 27-yard run, which set up Bucky with a 1st-and-Goal from the five, which preceeded the Penniston touchdown right before halftime. The second big block from him was on Taylor’s touchdown run on the first play of the fourth quarter. That was not the only big block on that touchdown run. On any long run, you need great blocking from the wide receivers, and Danny Davis provided just that. In addition to being an emerging receiving target, Davis has become a tremendous blocker as well. As you may recall, in his first game at Wisconsin, he blocked three Utah State players on a touchdown by Zander Neuville. That was our introduction to him. He has done more of the same in that area this season. On Taylor’s touchdown, Davis’ block of Minnesota defensive back Antonio Shenault sprung the Wisconsin running back for the score. Obviously, none of those big runs happen without the blocking at the first level. I could say this every week, but superb job by the offensive line and tight ends, as well as their wide receivers for their blocking. Kudos to all of them. Throughout the season, it has been amazing. Without them, Taylor would not be in the Heisman discussion.
And finally, how about that defense? Now, I know Minnesota’s offense is putrid, but to hold the Gophers to 80 yards through three quarters is phenomenal, I don’t care what team you play. The Minnesota offense was held to just 13 yards through the first 29 minutes of the game and had three-and-outs on its first five possessions of the half and six of its 10 drives for the game. The Badgers outgained the Gophers 456-133 for the game and held them to just 40 yards passing on three completions. The three completions allowed were even fewer than Nate Stanley’s eight on his 41 yards passing against Iowa. I mentioned in my preview for the game that Minnesota would need to rush for at least 150 yards in order to have a chance. Well, they didn’t. The Gophers ran for 93 yards on 39 carries, an average of just 2.4 yards per carry, and 25 of that came on one carry from Rodney Smith late in the first half. The result? Zero points in a 31-0 beatdown at the hands of their biggest rivals. The Wisconsin defense sacked Demry Croft twice and added seven tackles for loss. Linebacker Ryan Connelly had both sacks for the Badgers, just his second and third sacks on the season. His three tackles for loss led the team. Butkus Award finalist T.J. Edwards chipped in with 2.5 as well. Wisconsin has three players who have 10 TFL this season (Dooley, Edwards, Connelly). Since 2009, only three Badgers teams have had that many with 10 TFL. Through the regular season, Wisconsin has allowed 12 points per game, which is second in the country, only behind Alabama’s 11.5. The rush defense has been exceptional as well, ranking first in the nation in rush yards allowed per game (80.5), rushing touchdowns allowed (4) and finished second in opponent’s rushing average (2.65). Of the four rushing touchdowns allowed this year, only two came in Big Ten play. The pass defense was tremendous as well. The Badgers finished tops in the nation in opponent’s passer rating (94.18) and second in passing touchdowns allowed (8) but have not allowed a passing score in the past two games. It has been a tremendous defense this year, but will have a big test this weekend against Ohio State in Indianapolis.
Going into the season, the Badgers would be favored in every game, but most thought Wisconsin drop a game or two it shouldn’t. Most figured Bucky would be around a 10-2-type of team. Not many thought 12-0. The only national pundit I can think of who thought Wisconsin would be a College Football Playoff team was Fox Sports Radio’s Clay Travis. I know all Badgers fans are so excited about next week and playing for a spot in the Playoff, and rightly so, but let’s all take a step back and appreciate what this team has done. Even after losing one of the best linebackers in the country, Jack Cichy, before the season with a torn ACL. Even after losing their top two wide receivers during the season. A normal team would have imploded. Yes, the schedule has not been the most difficult. However, look at other teams. Clemson lost to Syracuse. Oklahoma lost to Iowa State. Ohio State was annihilated by Iowa. Miami lost to Pittsburgh. All those teams are average-to-below average. Wisconsin took care of business, no matter the opponent. It would be easy to overlook a below average team and be upset, but the Badgers were able to show up and dominate every week. In Wisconsin’s 12 games, 11 have been decided by multiple scores and it has not trailed in the fourth quarter at all. In fact, the Badgers have trailed for only 9:49 in the second half this season and in both instances, the offense scored in its first opportunity to retake the lead after being behind in the third quarter. It has been a dominating performance this year.....a lot of fun. Barring another 59-0 game again, Wisconsin will once again make an appearance in a New Year’s Six, whether it is in the Playoff or not. Not many people would have thought they’d be in this position at the start of the year. Enjoy it. The Badgers will take on Ohio State on Saturday at 7 p.m. CST with Gus Johnson and Joel Klatt on the call.
No comments:
Post a Comment