The forecast in Madison called for heavy thunderstorms for much of the day. Unfortunately for Michigan, they never arrived.
Some bolts out of the blue — and a cancellation — might have been the only things that could have saved the Wolverines (2-1, 0-1) in their Big Ten opener. Instead, Wisconsin (3-0, 1-0) rained down rushing yards in a 35-14 beat down of Michigan at Camp Randall Stadium.
The Badgers outrushed Michigan, 359-40, in a display of turf dominance that couldn’t be overcome. The total yards (Wisconsin, 487-299) looked a little better, due to some desperation throwing heroics by senior quarterback Shea Patterson (14-of-32 passing for 219 yards, two TDs). But they arrived after the Wolverines fell behind 35-0,.
U-M turned the ball over four more times, to Wisconsin’s none. And Badgers All-American tailback Jonathan Taylor racked up 203 yards on 23 carries with a pair of touchdowns, even while missing much of the second quarter.
In short, it couldn’t have gotten much worse.
“I thought Wisconsin had a great game plan, executed it extremely well, outplayed us offensively and defensively,” head coach Jim Harbaugh said. “Things they did really well, we were unable to do in terms of establishing a running game, having the play-action come off of that. They blocked better. They tackled better. They had a better plan and executed extremely well today.”
Badgers quarterback Jack Coan went 13-for-16 throwing for 128 yards. But the passing game seemed like an afterthought, the way the Badgers were manhandling Michigan on the ground.
“They did what they have done well all season — run the ball,” senior safety Josh Metellus said. “It’s what they’ve been doing the past couple of seasons, running the ball. They came in with the mindset that they were going to run the ball on us, and we knew we had to stop it. We tried to limit it as much as possible, but we just couldn’t get it done on the defensive side.”
The Badgers sent a message early on they weren’t afraid to use the battering ram approach. On their opening series, they faced fourth-and-inches on their own 34, and never hesitated.
Taylor smashed ahead for three yards, part of the 51 yards he accounted for on a 12-play, 75-yard drive. The senior finished the march, climbing up a pile of humanity for the final yard and a 7-0 Wisconsin lead at the 8:35 mark of the first quarter.
Michigan looked to strike right back. Patterson scrambled and flipped a short throw to sophomore wideout Ronnie Bell, who raced 68 yards down the sideline before getting caught from behind by Badgers cornerback Faion Hicks.
Then the drive-destroying demon of Michigan’s first two games returned. Erstwhile fullback and now defensive lineman Ben Mason, a junior, fumbled seven yards away from the goal line, Wisconsin diving on it at the Badgers’ 4.
“Ball security,” redshirt junior tight end Nick Eubanks mused. “That first time we got down into the red zone … that kind of killed us.”
The Wolverines had no possessions to waste. Two Badger series later, Taylor took a handoff, bounced out to a hole on the left side of the line, discovered no linebackers in his time zone and sprinted away 72 yards to the end zone.
With 12:17 ticked off the game clock, Taylor had amassed 143 yards rushing on a dozen carries, with two touchdowns. His team led 14-0, and Michigan faced a hole the size of a drained Lake Superior.
The hole was about the get deeper.
Even with Taylor sidelined by cramps, Wisconsin marched on. The Badgers fashioned a 15-play, 80-yard touchdown drive, featuring a pair of crucial fourth-down makes.
On fourth-and-three at Michigan’s 43, Coan unloaded a perfectly thrown sideline toss to UW wideout Quintez Cephus for 26 yards. Then on fourth-and-goal at the Michigan 1, the Badgers lined up a behemoth package up front, and Coan dove in from a yard out.
The Wolverines hadn’t touched the football in the second quarter, and the Badgers led 21-0 with 6:40 remaining in the half.
Five plays later, the Badgers took it away again.
Matt Henningsen tipped a Patterson pass up front, and Burrell intercepted it on the Wisconsin 42.
The Badgers didn’t score on that possession, but after three straight Michigan losses and a punt, the next chance wasn’t far away. Coan completed a two-play, 43-yard drive by scrambling out and rumbling 25 yards for the touchdown to make it 28-0 with 57 seconds left in the half.
“Their ability to block and tackle was really good today,” Harbaugh reiterated. “There were holes inside, and when we shut those holes off inside, [Taylor] had the ability to bounce them to the outside. They controlled the game with the running game. It as easy to see that. And make the big plays, as well. It was impressive.”
The Badgers stopped a Michigan possession led by redshirt sophomore quarterback Dylan McCaffrey to open the second half. Then they resumed the decimation.
Summoning up another old-style Michigan drive, the Badgers went 84 yards on 13 plays, John Chenal busting in from two yards out for the score. Wisconsin retained complete control, 35-0, at the 5:13 mark of the third quarter.
The Wolverines finally scored, at the 2:08 mark. All it took was both of Wisconsin’s starting safeties getting tossed from the game on targeting calls — the last knocked McCaffrey from the game with a concussion.
Patterson came back in to toss a six-yard TD pass to senior tight end Sean McKeon, capping a nine-play, 75-yard scoring drive. Patterson then hit redshirt sophomore wideout Tarik Black in the back of the end zone for a two-point conversion, a score drenched in the boos of Wisconsin fans.
Wisconsin placekicker Collin Larsh banged a 48-yard field goal attempt off the right upright midway through the fourth quarter.
The Wolverines put another touchdown on the board with 4:56 left, Patterson throwing a five-yard TD toss to junior wideout Donovan Peoples-Jones. The senior QB gunned deep balls to Black (32 yards) and junior wideout Nico Collins (43 yards) to set up the score.
Fifth-year senior Jordan Glasgow recovered an onside kick that almost produced a third late TD. Patterson appeared to make a touchdown toss to Black that replay officials overturned, before the QB got hit and fumbled to Wisconsin linebacker Chris Orr.
Michigan, predictably, wasn’t conceding anything afterward, despite what it just experienced.
“This is the point in the season where we had our first Big Ten game,” sophomore defensive end Aidan Hutchinson said. “We lose it, so now we’ve got our backs against the wall. We’ve got to fight. We’ve got to fight out of this position that we’re in. We’ll do it. I’m confident.”
---
• Talk about this article inside The Fort
• Subscribe to our podcast on iTunes
• Learn more about our print and digital publication, The Wolverine
• Sign up for our newsletter, The Wolverine Now
• Follow us on Twitter: @TheWolverineMag, @Balas_Wolverine, @EJHolland_TW, @AustinFox42, @JB_ Wolverine and @DrewCHallett
• Like us on Facebook
