EAST LANSING, Mich.' Saturday was not supposed to be a do-or-die game for Wisconsin, but after three consecutive losses in the Big Ten, nothing short of a victory would be acceptable for the Badger faithful in Madison.
To throw salt in the wounds, a daunting task lay at hand in containing the best wide receiver in the Big Ten, and arguably the best player in all of college football, Michigan State junior flanker Charles Rogers. Rogers came in leading the Big Ten in receiving yards per game and a suspect Wisconsin secondary looked to be a launching pad for another big day.
\We doubled him just about every play,"" UW Head Coach Barry Alvarez said. ""We just felt like he was so dangerous, he's such an outstanding receiver, that we had to do something special to try and contain him.""
And that was exactly what the Badger secondary did. Wisconsin held Rogers to one catch in the first half and only three in the entire game. Although Rogers ended with two touchdowns, both came late in the game when Wisconsin had put the game out of reach.
""We wanted to make sure that one person didn't beat us with [anything] over the top,"" defensive coordinator Kevin Cosgrove said. ""He's a great football player and you have to do something to try to take him out of the game and that's what we tried to do.""
A big reason for the success of the Badger secondary was sophomore defensive back Jim Leonard. At 5'8"", 178 pounds, Leonard had his hands full all night with the 6'4"", 205-pound Rogers. Physical play, combined with help from the rest of the secondary, allowed Leonard to keep Rogers in check throughout most of the game until late. Leonard also recorded his sixth interception of the season'leading the Big Ten'on a key drive in the second half to halt a Michigan State comeback.
""It came at a really big time for us,"" Leonard said. ""They had been driving down the field and then to come out with no points like that was really big.""
With Wisconsin's defense shutting down Rogers in the Badgers' 42-24 victory, Wisconsin's running game took center stage. The one-two punch of sophomore Anthony Davis and freshman Dwayne Smith came out possessed and proved to be too much for the Michigan State defense.
""I come in there and run by a lot of guys and he comes in there and runs through guys,"" Davis said. ""It's a nice little combination.""
Davis' individual performance Saturday marked his highest rushing total of the season since the opening game against Fresno State, when he had 184 rushing yards. Against MSU, he tallied 96 yards in the first quarter on his way to a 170-yard rushing performance on 29 carries. In addition, Saturday's game marked Davis' third straight performance of over 100 yards.
""I'm starting to get into the flow of things,"" Davis said. ""Starting to see things a little better and to be more patient.""
Smith aided the running attack for the Badgers, who seems to fit the mold as a perfect complement for Davis. Smith, whose running style contrasts Davis', exploded in the second half and finished the night with 110 yards rushing on 14 carries and a touchdown.
More importantly, however, the Badgers finally played like a team clicking on all cylinders. With the victory, Wisconsin not only got into the win column for the first time in the Big Ten this season, but also ended a three game losing streak during which it lost by a combined 11 points.
""We needed this win real bad,"" Leonard said. ""Coming off of three losses like that, this was basically a must-win game for us and we came out and responded very well. It's really going to help us out, especially going into next week, going to play Iowa. We needed a game like this to get back on track.\
