Upon further review: Wisconsin vs. Northwestern
It was well documented that Wisconsin hadn't won at Northwestern's Ryan Field since 1999. Scratch another Chicago curse off the list.
Wisconsin's rush defense stifled Justin Jackson and the Wildcats, the Badgers found enough offense to overcome a couple of missed field goals in ending a four-game road losing streak to Northwestern with a 21-7 win.
The Badgers once again used two quarterbacks and Corey Clement churned out another 100-yard effort as UW did what it wanted -- controlling the action and eventually forcing Northwestern to become one dimensional.
It wasn't necessarily pretty, but that's pretty much been the status quo this season.
A recap of Saturday's game:
CLASS LESSONS
-- The strategies of both teams was apparent on the first possessions for each. Wisconsin handed off to Corey Clement four straight times. Clement would carry the ball 32 times, his second-highest total, and the Badgers would run 57 times overall. Meanwhile, Northwestern threw to wide receiver Austin Carr on its first three plays and ended up with 52 throws and just 19 rushes.
-- Bart Houston made his game debut in the second quarter. On his first two drives, he led Wisconsin to 11 points. This two QB thing is here to stay this season. It also makes next year's fall camp even more interesting. Alex Hornibrook obviously does not have his hooks on this starting job.
-- I guess Houston is the better running quarterback. Wisconsin actually used a zone-read play (!!) in the red zone on a third-and-5 play, with Houston getting the first down.
-- Head coach Paul Chryst's late half coaching was, well, interesting. After the game, Chryst admitted he did not do a good job at the end of the first half -- when Wisconsin let 12 seconds burn off the clock before calling a timeout with 16 seconds to play. It essentially killed any scoring chance. At the end of the game, Chryst had Houston run backwards, taking a bigger loss than Chryst wanted (10+ yards on each play). At least they thankfully credited Wisconsin with a team rush, saving Houston's rushing average.
-- Clement usually comes off on passing downs, but in the first quarter he perhaps proved his worth with a good blitz pickup which allowed Alex Hornibrook to complete a second-and-9 pass to Troy Fumagalli for 13 yards.
-- Some people (ahem) wanted to see more of Bradrick Shaw. Last week he had a 21-yard touchdown run then saw the ball just once more. Against Northwestern, Shaw was in on the second series of the game and finished with 54 yards on 11 carries, four off his season high, with a long of 25. Shaw had four carries combined in Big Ten play entering the day.
-- Chryst apparently has a lot of confidence in Andrew Endicott. The kicker missed badly on a field-goal attempt from 35 yards but Chryst threw him out there three other times, with Endicott hitting from 28 and 40 and missing from 51 (just wide left). Wisconsin does have redshirt freshman Zach Hintze on the roster. Will be interesting to see if he's used next week at home in what could be a potential Badgers blowout.
-- It's amazing how often the jet sweep works for Wisconsin. But give credit to Jazz Peavy on his 46-yard run as he made a number of moves and cuts to get to the end zone.
-- It's hard to fault Wisconsin's defense, but it seems like problems arise when the Badgers start missing tackles. That was the problem on Northwestern's touchdown drive. Probably a nitpick, though, considering how good UW has been this year.
DULY NOTED
-- For the second time this season, Wisconsin had the ball for more than 40 minutes. And the Badgers split it up pretty evenly among the four quarters. UW's time of possession per quarter: 1st - 10:15; 2nd - 10:24; 3rd - 10:21; 4th - 9:25.
-- Peavy's rushing touchdown was the first by a Wisconsin wide receiver since Reggie Love against LSU on Oct. 30, 2014.
-- Clement gained 106 yards on 32 carries, which is just a 3.3 average. His long rush was 15 yards.
-- Northwestern had 39 rushing yards, fewest allowed by the Badgers in a Big Ten game since 26 yards vs. Purdue on Nov. 8, 2014. It was also a season low for the Wildcats, who entered averaging 138.8 yards rushing per game.
-- Nine of Northwestern's 13 drives (not counting two drives at the end of the first half and fourth quarter) went 25 yards or fewer. Five drives were three-and-outs.
-- Wisconsin's defense has now allowed 0 or 1 touchdown in 5 of 9 games.
-- Lubern Figaro had three passes broken up, the most for a Badgers player since Michael Caputo had four vs. Hawaii on Sept. 26, 2015. It was also the most for a Wisconsin defender in a Big Ten game since Tanner McEvoy had three at Minnesota on Nov. 23, 2013.
-- Alec Ingold's 2-point conversion was Wisconsin's first since Russell Wilson to Jacob Pedersen in the 2011 Big Ten championship game.
-- Game-by-game stats for Badgers opponents are available only back through 2006 and no team had as many pass attempts as Northwestern's 52.
WHAT IT MEANT
To say the least, besides getting the Ryan Field monkey off its back, this was quite the key victory. With Nebraska losing to Ohio State, Wisconsin's path to the Big Ten title game is clear. If the Badgers win their final three games, they are the Big Ten West champs and play in Indianapolis. Simple as that.
PLAYER OF THE GAME
Maybe it's appropriate that we put Jazz Peavy here after last year's amazing non-touchdown call against Northwestern. Peavy led Wisconsin with 144 total yards. Peavy had the big play in the game with his 46-yard touchdown run and made some clutch catches, including a 32-yard grab from Bart Houston in the second quarter and a19-yarder from Houston in the fourth to get the Badgers in the red zone and set up Wisconsin's final score. In addition, his 24-yard punt return put Wisconsin in good field position at the Northwestern 32, helping lead to a 28-yard field goal.
DON'T FORGET ABOUT ME
To say the least, punter Anthony Lotti has had a rough freshman season. He entered the game averaging a woeful 36.7 yards per punt. While Lotti finished with a 37.3 average against Northwestern, he dropped six punts inside the 20-yard line with only one of his kicks returned, and that was for 1 yard. Lotti's two best punts pinned Northwestern near its goal line. In the third quarter, he blasted a 53-yarder which was downed at the 3-yard line. In the fourth quarter, he hit a punt inside the 1 which spun back to the 2 and was downed.
THAT MOMENT
Wisconsin was leading just 13-7 as the fourth quarter began. On a first-and-10 play from the Wisconsin 19, Northwestern's Eric Olson was called for a holding penalty on a rushing Vince Biegel. That penalty disrupted the drive and Northwestern coach Pat Fitzgerald said after the game that it killed the Wildcats' momentum. Two plays later, on third-and-21, Conor Sheehy forced a fumble after sacking quarterback Clayton Thorson, with D'Cota Dixon recovering. Not only did Northwestern get no points after getting in the red zone, but also Wisconsin went down and scored to make it 21-7 and for all intents and purposes put this game away.
THIS NUMBER
27.5 -- percent of total yards Northwestern gained on its 87-yard touchdown drive. That means the Wildcats gained just 229 yards the rest of the game.
THEY SAID IT
"Plays like that get the crowds going, gets the sideline going, gets a lot of energy in our guys and it's like an ignition of excitement . . . to get the team rolling." -- Jazz Peavy on his end around for a touchdown.
"It was just one of those things where I really wanted to beat this team and I'm glad we got to do that." -- Peavy, who had what appeared to be a game-winning touchdown in the final seconds last year controversially declared incomplete after a replay review.
"We really had to show who the best team was today and we didn't want a referee to make the game time decision at the end." -- running back Corey Clement
WHAT'S NEXT
Wisconsin gets a likely easier task next week, hosting 3-6 Illinois. The Illini are coming off a win over Michigan State, but allowed 40+ points in back-to-back losses to Michigan and Minnesota before that.
Dave Heller is the author of the upcoming book Ken Williams: A Slugger in Ruth's Shadow as well as Facing Ted Williams Players from the Golden Age of Baseball Recall the Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived and As Good As It Got: The 1944 St. Louis Browns
