Wisconsin’s bread and butter is on the ground, there’s no questioning that. However, Saturday proved the rare exception, as the Badgers leaned more heavily on the passing game than ever before to eek out the 23-21 victory.
It got us to thinking, just how rare is it for this to happen. It turns out, very rare indeed.
Consider these facts about what the Badgers did through the air:
— Wisconsin won a game in which it attempted more passes (50) than runs (34) for the first time since scoring a 17-14 win over Arkansas in the 2007 Capital One Bowl (34 passes, 28 runs). The Badgers had lost seven straight games in which they attempted more passes than runs.
— UW threw for 322 yards, its highest passing total in a win since throwing for 345 yards in a 59-10 win over South Dakota in 2011. The last time the Badgers threw for at least 322 yards in a Big Ten win came in 2006 when they accumulated 330 yards in a 52-17 win over Indiana.
— This marks just the fourth time in school history that Wisconsin has attempted 50 or more passes in a game, and the first time in a win. The other three 50-attempt games were: Randy Wright had 54 against Iowa in 1983, Joel Stave had 53 against Penn State in 2013 and Darrell Bevell had 51 against Iowa in 1995.
Let that all soak in for you, because those numbers are simply incredible. More passes than runs, and win? Never winning while attempting 50 passes? A decade since at least 322 yards passing?
All of those things are done and dusted. All of those things happened, and the Badgers bucked not just recent history, but all-time Wisconsin football history to get this win on the back of its passing game.
No doubt the 100-yard day from running back Dare Ogunbowale helped, but let’s remember it wouldn’t have happened without the incredible passing numbers put up by Stave.
Even more scary? There were plenty of opportunities for improvement in the passing game despite the historic numbers described above.
Stave completed just under half of his passes (24 of 50), had a number of drops from receivers, tight ends and running backs and also could’ve been easily picked off a few times. A look at the film will reveal as many bad moments to learn from as good ones.
Going forward, could this be a moment that galvanizes this team and makes it a true Big Ten West contender? Certainly winning in a rare way could have that effect.
Wisconsin will only be a true contender if it can take this performance and make it a positive building experience. If it sees backwards movement or more of the same, UW could be in trouble looking forward.
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