Two straight games against newbies in the Big Ten, and two straight dominant defensive performances. Wisconsin (6-2, 3-1 B1G) went on the road to Rutgers (5-4, 1-4 B1G) for the first ever meeting between the two schools and schooled the Scarlet Knights, pitching a shutout in a 37-0 win.
If you’re keeping score at home that 89-7 against the two newcomers to the conference in back-to-back weeks. Outside of a garbage touchdown in the final minute last week, it would’ve been two straight games with a defensive shutout as well.
With the win the Badgers get to bowl eligibility for the 13th straight season, the longest active streak in the Big Ten and the seventh longest in the nation.
Just how rare was the shutout UW put on Rutgers? It was the first road shutout since a 31-0 win at Iowa on Oct. 24, 1998. The 37-point win marked UW’s largest margin in a Big Ten road shutout since blanking Northwestern 49-0 on Oct. 1, 1983.
Additionally, the shutout was just the fifth for the the Badgers in the last 50 (yes, FIFTY) years.
The Badger defense held Rutgers to just 139 yards of offense and an average of 2.5 yards per gain on the day. Rutgers ran for 76 yards and threw for just 63 yards on 7-of-27 passing for the game.
It wasn’t just the yardage that mattered either, as the Badgers defense recorded three sacks and forced 11 total punts on 15 drives against the Scarlet Knights. The other four drives ended with an interception, a turnover on downs and two ends of the half.
While the defense will get the rightful headlines, Wisconsin’s run game wasn’t about to be forgotten either. The Badgers won the game thanks to its defense and running game, with UW gaining 298 yards and scoring all four of its touchdowns on the ground.
Melvin Gordon took a back seat to New Jersey native Corey Clement on the day, as the sophomore outrushed the Heisman hopeful 131 to 128 yards on the day. Both had two touchdowns, but it may be difficult to distinguish which had the better TD on the day.
Clement started things off with a crazy 43-yard touchdown to put UW up 14-0, one in which he made Rutgers know what was going to be up the rest of the game.
[h/t @FansidedGIF]//platform.vine.co/static/scripts/embed.jsGordon responded with an “anything you can do, I can do better” TD of his own, reversing field for an untouched 51-yard touchdown run of his own.
Gordon did provide a scare to Badger nation later in the game, as he went out for a pass and appeared to have tight end Sam Arneson land directly on his left knee while landing with the football. Luckily, the worst fears were unfounded as Gordon appeared to be fine following the initial shock and after the game head coach Gary Andersen had this to say:
GA says Melvin Gordon is fine and has no issues
— Benjamin Worgull (@TheBadgerNation) November 1, 2014
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No matter who was in at running back (or running as a quarterback), the Badgers were fine on the ground. Tanner McEvoy, Joel Stave and even third-string running back Dare Ogunbowale got in on the act.
While the Badger defense was busy proving running on them is not a good idea, UW’s offense was daring teams to try and stop it’s rushing attack. Despite a few early series’ with nothing going, the Badgers stuck to the run and it made all the difference, as Wisconsin wore the Rutgers defensive line down as the first half wound down.
However, there could be another reason for Wisconsin’s dominance in the game…the color of the helmet it wore. The stats suggest that may be so, as Wisconsin has worn red helmets six times over the past two seasons and UW has won all six games by a combined score of 264-62.
Wisconsin will take on Purdue next week, with kick scheduled for 11am CT on a television network that will be determined later.
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