For the Wisconsin football team, the winter break was bittersweet. There was plenty of good to finish the season, but also several key departures, which could become issues in future years. To begin with the good, Wisconsin began the New Year by winning its first BCS/New Year’s Six bowl game since Jan.
The No. 8 Wisconsin Badgers beat the No. 15 Western Michigan Broncos in the Cotton Bowl by playing their style of football: a slow, efficient offense complimenting a punishing and consistent defense. Paul Chryst’s team is not one that will have a lot of opportunities to blow opponents out, but they grind and wear down all challengers for four quarters, pulling ahead and staying ahead as they did in their 24-16 victory Saturday in Dallas. It started, as it has all season, with senior running back Corey Clement and the rushing attack.
In Wisconsin’s first game of the season at Lambeau Field, Troy Fumagalli was the key offensive player, totaling 100 yards on seven catches.
Don’t let Marie Polzer’s southern drawl fool you. She is a Badger through and through. Polzer grew up in Arlington, Texas and resides there now.
INDIANAPOLIS — Throughout the season, Wisconsin, which came into the season unranked, proved preseason doubters wrong en route to a surprising Big Ten West title.
The first rule of Wisconsin sports: Never underestimate the team’s ability to build your hopes up and then proceed to shred your soul to smithereens in new and creative ways. Thus was the case on Saturday night in Indianapolis, when the Badgers built up a 28-7 lead, only to see it slowly dissipate as their secondary seemed to forget how to football.
INDIANAPOLIS — The Wisconsin Badgers’ season ended the same way it started. On the first play against LSU and the last play against Penn State, Bart Houston took the handoff under center, turned left and handed it off right to Corey Clement, with Austin Ramesh leading the way from the backfield. It brought UW’s season full-circle.
INDIANAPOLIS — The Wisconsin Badgers’ wild season came to a screeching halt in Indianapolis, as UW (7-3 Big Ten, 10-3 overall) fell to the Penn State Nittany Lions (9-1, 11-2) in the Big Ten Championship Game at Lucas Oil Stadium. The Badgers took a seemingly comfortable 28-7 lead in the first quarter, but Penn State’s infamous second-half turn-around was in full swing as they fought back to take lead and the conference crown. Wisconsin was able to play its style of football for most of the game, heavily relying on the ground game to control the clock and put points on the board, slowly but surely.
Entering this season, the Wisconsin Badgers’ secondary was the biggest question mark defensively as they had to replace three starters on the back end with questionable depth.
The final game of the season has come, and the No. 5 Wisconsin Badgers (6-2 Big Ten, 9-2 overall) are just one win away from a Big Ten Championship appearance, sitting only two places out of the College Football Playoff. Enthusiasm shouldn’t be hard to come by for the Badgers, as Wisconsin takes on the Minnesota Gophers (5-3 Big Ten, 8-3 overall) in the annual Border Battle for Paul Bunyan’s Axe.
Before the season started, it seemed clear that Wisconsin’s linebacker corps would be the strength, not just of the defense, but of the entire team.
While the Badger defense dominated early in the frigid wind, holding the Purdue Boilermakers to just three points in the first quarter, the offense started up like an old jalopy on a cold winter’s morning.
Senior Wisconsin cornerback Sojourn Shelton plays a lot of FIFA, and no one is happier about that than senior safety Leo Musso.
For the first five and a half minutes of the game, the Illinois Fighting Illini (2-5 Big Ten, 3-7 overall) were right in it against the No. 7 Wisconsin Badgers (5-2, 8-2). Then UW scored touchdowns on four-straight drives and cruised to a 48-3 win on homecoming night. The game was more-or-less decided by halftime as Wisconsin went to the locker room with a 31-3 lead.
Host Bobby Ehrlich talks with football beat writer Lorin Cox about what to expect this weekend as the Badgers take on Illinois.
Like the No. 7 Wisconsin Badgers (4-2 Big Ten, 7-2 Overall), the Illinois Fighting Illini (2-4, 3-6) have had to rely on a redshirt freshman quarterback under center after starting the season with a redshirt senior who struggled early on. Jeff George Jr.
It is officially November in college football. Each weekend will feature elimination games for teams vying for various conference titles.
For two glorious weeks, our power rankings had a consensus on who the top six teams in the Big Ten were.
Last season, the Illinois Fighting Illini started 4-1 and looked poised to make a bowl appearance.
This season, Wisconsin’s defense has been in a constant state of flux. With players getting injured and coming back from injury, and some going from hot to cold in a heartbeat, finding consistency has been difficult. Senior safety Leo Musso, however, has been about as consistent as it gets.
Solutions by The State News
