48. Wisconsin 54, Akron 10 (2016)

This was another dominating performance by the Cardinal & White. The Badgers had to try to avoid the letdown after the huge opening week upset of No. 5 LSU at Lambeau Field. The Zips came in at 1-0 as well after a 47-24 win over VMI. Unfortunately for them, Wisconsin is not VMI. Wisconsin avoided the letdown by scoring the game’s first 23 points and its defense allowed only three points on the afternoon to lift the Badgers to a 54-10 domination of Akron.

The Badgers made sure this was not a letdown situation, traveling 83 yards in 13 plays to give the home team a 7-0 lead. Corey Clement, who rushed for 47 yards on the opening drive, scored the game’s first points on a 4-yard run. A 47-yard pass from Bart Houston to Robert Wheelwright put the Badgers in position to take a two-score lead, but Clement was stuffed on fourth down from the 1. But two plays into the Zips’ possession, Alec James sacked Akron quarterback Thomas Woodson in the end zone to make the score 9-0 in favor of the favored Badgers.

Following the punt back to Wisconsin, Bucky took advantage, quickly making it 16-0. Jazz Peavy accounted for 44 of the 53 yards on the drive, setting up Clement’s second touchdown of the game, a 1-yard rush on 3^rd-and-Goal.

Peavy, who had a career day with seven catches for 100 yards and two touchdowns, caught his first score from 13 yards out to make it 23-0. The touchdown came after a Warren Ball fumble on the tail-end of a 50-yard run for the Zips.

Wisconsin only punted twice in the game, which is a good thing, because Akron’s electric return man JoJo Natson returned Anthony Lotti’s second punt of the afternoon 55 yards for a touchdown for the Zips’ only trip to the end zone on the day.

The Badgers quickly responded with a three-play drive to take back a 23-point advantage, the last two being big pass plays. Houston connected with Wheelwright for 28 yards to the Akron 34 before the Badgers quarterback threaded the needle to Peavy down the field over the middle to finish off the drive. Akron connected on a field goal to end the half and Wisconsin led 30-10 at the break.

Bucky dominated the second half, outscoring the Zips 24-0 after intermission. Wisconsin did not have to punt in the second half, scoring on all four drives. The fullbacks received some love, as both Alec Ingold and Austin Ramesh found the end zone. Freshman running back Bradrick Shaw found paydirt to finish the scoring, as he dove into the right front corner of the end zone for his first career score.

The letdown happened the following week, as the Badgers fought back from a fourth quarter deficit to beat lowly Georgia State, which finished with a 3-9 record in 2016.