Another inferior opponent on paper, another slow start for the Wisconsin Badgers. However, a halftime talk sparked UW and it raced off to a 28-3 victory over the visiting Troy Trojans and improved to 2-1 on the year.
Despite not lighting up the scoreboard with points, the Badgers defense held an opponent out of the end zone for a second-straight game and it also found a glimpse of a run game as well.
Freshmen were the story of the day for UW, as redshirt freshman Taiwan Deal put up a team-high 84 yards on 16 carries rushing and true freshman inside linebacker Chris Orr starred.
The Badgers found their run game thanks to Deal’s hard-running style and some holes finally opening up up front. Deal split carries with Dare Ogunbowale, who racked up 75 yards on 14 carries and a touchdowns.
Wisconsin finished the day with a season-high 199 yards on the ground, balancing out the pass game for the first time on the season.
Defensively, the Badgers have a true freshman to thank for doing a lot of the dirty work and holding the Trojans out of the end zone. Orr came in early after starter Leon Jacobs was ejected on a questionable targeting call.
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In his steed, Orr picked up a team-high 14 tackles, 11 of which were of the solo variety. He also had 1.0 tackles for loss and a pass break up in his most extensive action of his early career.
Jacobs wouldn’t be the only Badger ejected on a targeting call, as cornerback Derrick Tindal was ejected later in the contest for an even more dubious targeting call.
This time Derrick Tindal hit the player with his arm first. Paul Chryst looks like he's seen a ghost. #Badgers
— Evan Flood (@Evan_Flood) September 19, 2015
With Jacobs’ ejection coming in the first half, he will be eligible for the game next week, but Tindal will have to sit out the first half with his ejection coming in the second half.
Without the steady hands from both of these freshmen, the Badgers’ struggles could’ve been even worse.
The final score is no indication of the struggle Wisconsin was in during the first half, as the Badgers went in to the half up 14-3 and only got there on the arm and legs of senior quarterback Joel Stave.
Stave, who finished the game 13 of 17 passing for 202 yards and two total touchdowns, pulled this team on his back to help break the game open a bit towards the end of the first half.
With Wisconsin clinging to a narrow 7-3 lead late in the second quarter, senior quarterback Joel Stave led one of his patented clutch two-minute drives and the Badgers went in to the half up 14-3 because of it.
Stave led the Badgers on a 7-play, 90-yard scoring drive, taking up almost seven minutes of the second quarter. After two big completions to wide receiver Alex Erickson (21-yard and 45-yard completions on back-to-back plays), Stave found himself flushed from the pocket and stumbling in to the end zone for the rushing touchdown with 34 seconds left on the clock.
He would finish the game completing at least one pass to seven different players, with Alex Erickson (76 yards) and Jazz Peavy leading with three receptions each.
Wisconsin’s biggest struggles came in converting on third downs in the first half, going just 2 of 5 on the critical down.
Halftime usually means positive adjustments for Wisconsin, especially defensively. However, it appeared halftime didn’t do much good this time around, as Troy took the opening drive of the second half right down the field against the Badgers.
However, senior outside linebacker Joe Schobert forced a sack-fumble on a first down play inside the UW 20-yard line and safety Michael Caputo picked up the fumble.
From there, the Badgers defense bent only a few more times before totally dominating the game. Wisconsin’s defense gave up just 244 yards of total offense, including just 70 yards on the ground (2.3 average per carry).
Wisconsin’s offense couldn’t find the end zone as much as was expected, but there was a spark to be found in the form of Tanner McEvoy — the quarterback. As the Badgers drove down the field in the third quarter, Chryst called McEvoy in for the wildcat formation, and it worked wonders.
After a nine-yard run to the left on his first down at quarterback, McEvoy kept the ball on the next play and juked his way from a negligible gain to a 32-yard rushing touchdown. It was Wisconsin 21, Troy 3 at that point and while the scoreline didn’t change much from that point on, the Badgers’ offense kept a steady hand and the clock rolling.
Wisconsin got a good look at all parts of its team in this game, including a good look at all sides of special teams.
Punter Drew Meyer got some good work in on the day, proving to be a reliable punter for a change and averaging 41.8 yards per punt. He also put three of his five punts inside the 20-yard line and had just one touchback.
Despite some struggles, the Badgers continued to find answers to the questions they had going in to this game. Redshirt freshman Micah Kapoi’s insertion in to the starting lineup at right guard appeared to be a positive move for the team, while Wisconsin clearly has depth at linebacker, something it wasn’t very sure of going in to this game too.
With today’s win, UW is now the eighth Power Five program to win 100 games since the start of the 2005 season. Ohio State (113), Alabama (109), Oregon (108), LSU (105), Oklahoma (104), TCU (102) and USC (101) are the other teams that hold that distinction.
Wisconsin will host Hawaii next week in a night game at Camp Randall, looking to finish the non-conference season with three straight victories.
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