MADISON, Wisconsin — Under the lights at Camp Randall on Saturday night, the Wisconsin defense shut down the high-octane USC offense, while the offense controlled the game on the ground as the Badgers handled No. 16 USC 24-7.
Against an elite quarterback, the Badgers had as good of a start defensively as possible. In the first quarter alone, Jayden Maiava threw two interceptions, both of which set up Wisconsin in USC territory.
Bryce West came down with the first pick off a batted ball and returned it to the USC 17-yard line. The offense was only able to manage two yards off the turnover, settling for a 33-yard field goal from Gavin Lahm. Lahm made the kick, putting the Badgers on the board with an early 3-0 lead.
The next possession, it was Cairo Skanes who jumped a route over the middle on a third down in Wisconsin territory, returning the interception to the Trojans’ 35-yard line. Once again, Jeff Grimes’ offense netted just two yards. This time, however, Lahm’s kick was unsuccessful from 51 yards.
At the end of the first quarter, the Badgers had mustered just eight yards of total offense. Eventually, the USC offense was bound to wake up, and as the second quarter began, it did.
Aided by a sideline interference penalty, the Trojans sustained a 67-yard drive with Maiava finding a wide-open Taniela Tupou in the back of the end zone on third-and-goal from four yards out, giving USC a 7-3 lead.
In its final drive before the half, Wisconsin milked 7:53 minutes of the game clock, finally finding a rhythm offensively. Abu Sama led the drive, racking up 46 yards on the ground on eight carries, but it was Bryan Jackson who scored the touchdown against his former team, putting the Badgers back in front at 10-7.
That score held into the half, but given Maiava’s turnovers, 10 points felt rather underwhelming.
Opening the second half, the Wisconsin offense stayed hot, marching 75 yards in 5:39 minutes for a touchdown. On fourth-and-one, Colton Joseph hit Chris Brooks Jr. on a screen, who was escorted to the end zone by three tight ends split out wide for the 16-yard score.
The connection brought Joseph to 39 passing yards for the game, tripling his first-half total of 13.
On the ensuing drive for USC, it appeared the Trojans had an answer. Maiava connected with Tanook Hines and Trent Mosley for chunk plays to set Lincoln Riley’s offense up inside the red zone. As he’s done all season Mason Posa left his mark on the game and got to Maiava, who committed intentional grounding attempting to avoid the sack on third down.
Forced to settle for a field goal, USC came up empty as Junior Poyser got a hand on the 44-yard attempt from Caden Chittenden, leaving the score at 17-7 with just over four minutes to play in the third quarter.
Shortly after Jump Around, Mike Tressel sent the house at Maiava, and it was the stars who got home, with Posa and Sebastian cheeks combining for a sack, setting up a third-and-20. The secondary held true on third down, forcing a long field goal attempt.
Following a delay of game on the attempt, Chittenden was pushed back for a 58-yard attempt, which came up way short, setting up Wisconsin on its own 41, up 10, with 13:14 to play.
For the fans looking for vintage Wisconsin football, there was plenty of it on Saturday night, including the drive that put the Trojans to sleep. After driving 58 yards, taking more than eight minutes off the clock, Ryan Schwendeman, lined up as a fullback, scored on a one-yard dive to extend the lead to 24-7 with five minutes to go.
Putting the finishing touches on the upset victory, the defense made two more stops, finishing the night with Javan Robinson breaking up a pass in the end zone to cement the 24-7 final score.
A week ago, Wisconsin looked lost offensively with a struggling secondary. Tonight, the offense did more than enough to win and the secondary managed two takeaways. All eyes turn to a date with Iowa at Kinnick next week. The Hawkeyes fell to Minnesota earlier today. Kickoff is set for 11 p.m. CT.
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