In sports, it is important to win the ""easy"" games, and this season's Badger football team has done just that, closing its season with a victory over Buffalo Saturday.
When the final whistle sounded, the scoreboard read 35-3, but the score failed to show the true story of the game. Wisconsin spent much of the first half struggling before they focused and put the game away.
""To have the game start the way it did, the first play with a pick, and the first play from our offense was a touchdown, got the ball rolling."" UW head coach Bret Bielema said. ""We didn't do things as clean as we wanted to until the way we closed out that first half.
""It was an outstanding performance by Tyler [Donovan] on a couple throws there, and catches, and it put us in a position to have success,"" he added. ""It just continued through the second half ... [Now] we will take a couple of weeks off and come back and find out where we're going.""
The Badgers jumped out of the gate when sophomore cornerback Jack Ikegwuonu intercepted a pass by senior Buffalo quarterback Tony Paoli. On the next play, junior quarterback Tyler Donovan cashed in on the turnover by hitting junior receiver Paul Hubbard for a 26-yard touchdown.
On the next drive, the Bulls drove 63 yards and scored a field goal, cutting the Badger lead to four. Wisconsin's next four drives came up empty, two on missed field goals and one on a fourth-down Donovan scramble that came up short.
Donovan had an excellent passing day, completing 16-of-26 passes for 308 yards with two touchdowns and an interception.
""Nobody deserves it more than he does,"" injured senior starting quarterback John Stocco said about Donovan's performance. ""He just does an outstanding job for us.""
Donovan was at his best at the end of the first half. He threw for 70 yards on a late drive to set up a P.J. Hill touchdown run. Seconds after Paoli fumbled the ball to the Badgers, Donovan rushed for 11 yards and then hit junior wideout Luke Swan for a 35 yard score.
In the third quarter, the Badgers marched 62 yards on the ground to put freshman running back Lance Smith in the end zone on a two-yard run. In the fourth, senior rusher Dywon Rowan closed the scoring with an 11-yard touchdown.
The Wisconsin running game, usually a staple of the offense, struggled against Buffalo. Hill was held to 86 yards, 43 below his season average, and as a team Wisconsin only managed three yards per carry.
On defense, UW played as well as it has all season. Paoli completed six of his 23 passes for only 107 yards, and the Badgers allowed a mere 52 yards on the ground. Furthermore, the Badgers forced four turnovers, three of which set up touchdowns.
The Wisconsin receiving corps also put together an impressive game Saturday. Swan and Hubbard had only 73 and 47 yards respectively, but both found the end zone. Sophomore tight end Travis Beckum had an outstanding day, hauling in five passes for 135 yards. It was his third 100-yard game and may have pushed him closer toward potential All-Big Ten and All- American honors.
""I think it is mostly a confidence factor. We know now that we can just go out and try to score when we want to and just be able to move the ball,"" Beckum said of the offense's development through the season. ""The Michigan game was a good test for us, but since that we have been a lot more confident.""
The win puts the Badgers at 11-1—a new school record for regular season wins—and keeps them on pace for an almost-assured appearance in the Capital One Bowl.
""It means a great deal to our staff, our team and our program,"" Bielema said. ""What happens in college football is a wild, wild world out there and anything can happen. We put ourselves in a position to be 11-1 and finish as strong as anybody in the country.""
