No. 19 Wisconsin topped South Florida in its final non-conference matchup Saturday at Camp Randall, but the victory did little to provide momentum heading into Big Ten play next week.
The Badgers (3-1) outplayed USF (2-3) in the second half to earn the 27-10 win, their third consecutive victory at home, but the offense struggled in the first two quarters. South Florida forced a 3-3 tie going into halftime by limiting Wisconsin’s running game and blanking its passing attack.
Redshirt junior running back Melvin Gordon, fresh off a historic performance against Bowling Green, took time to get comfortable and turned the ball over on a fumble late in the second quarter on the Bulls’ five yard line after Wisconsin had driven 76 yards downfield.
11 of Gordon’s 17 first-half carries went for three yards or less, a deficiency that cannot be attributed to the star running back, but rather to a breakdown in blocking on the part of the offensive line.
South Florida controlled the line of scrimmage by loading the box and piercing UW’s offensive line, which resulted in a flurry of quick stops that prevented Wisconsin from sustaining drives. Redshirt tackle Rob Havenstein took responsibility on the part of the linemen for allowing USF to generate such strong penetration in the first half.
“When we’ve got a four-I, or a four technique, D-tackle, nose guard, whoever it is in the backfield at the start of the play, obviously something went wrong,” Havenstein said. “That’s solely on us, we had to do some adjustments on our technique on some of our plays to go ahead and adjust to the way they were playing some of the third and shorts.”
Fortunately for Gordon, the offense was able to solve USF’s tenacious attack quickly in the second half, as Wisconsin promptly put together an eight-play, 76-yard scoring drive on its first possession of the third quarter that was capped off by a seven-yard touchdown run from Gordon.
After an ensuing USF three-and-out and a 24-yard punt return from senior Kenzel Doe that put Wisconsin in Bulls’ territory, Gordon ripped out a 43-yard touchdown run that was reminiscent of several of his rushes against Bowling Green.
Gordon took an inside handoff, shook off two defenders at the line of scrimmage, juked the safety and easily outran the rest of the defense to the end zone to put the Badgers up, 17-3. He went on to finish the game with 181 yards on 32 carries, boosted by a team-wide rebound in the second half that head coach Gary Andersen detected among his players.
“I just asked the kids to settle down a little bit and just play,” Andersen said of his message at halftime. “I feel like we were pressing. I don’t think we were tight, I don’t think we were prepared poorly, I think we were just pressing at that time, and they handled it well, came out and had a nice second half.”
The same cannot be said about the passing game. Redshirt junior Tanner McEvoy completed 11 of 18 passes for 160 yards and a touchdown, but his difficulty throwing downfield and choppy footwork was a liability, as it limited the playbook and contributed to a 41 percent third down conversion rate.
McEvoy struggled to complete mid-level passes, including a possible touchdown to senior tight end Sam Arneson, who had found space down the seam in USF’s red zone in the fourth quarter. This hole in the offense has Andersen deeply concerned.
“Yeah, not real good,” Andersen said of his comfort level in the passing game. “It’s just not. It’s inconsistent and there’s a lot of pieces, again, that go into that, and we’re going to work hard as an offense to get better in the throw game and third down because if we can’t, it’s going to be a little difficult as we continue to move forward. You’re not always going to hold a team to ten points and eight first downs. It’s not going to happen.”
As Andersen alluded to, Wisconsin’s defense was again solid the entire game. Led by senior linebacker Derek Landisch, who had three tackles, a sack and an interception, UW forced two turnovers and held South Florida to 245 yards and just eight first downs. The Bulls ran for 72 yards against a stout Wisconsin front seven that has steadily improved each week.
Landisch credited the defensive line with creating opportunities for the linebackers to step up and make plays.
“The defensive line played a great game,” Landisch said. “They ate up a lot of blocks, allowed us to run free, kept the linemen off the second level. So that’s definitely important, that doesn’t get a lot of press but it should because they’re in the trenches battling it out.”
Wisconsin will travel to Evanston, Ill., Saturday to play Northwestern (2-2) in its Big Ten Conference opener.
