Wisconsin was controlled for 60 minutes last week at UCLA. Tonight, it was the one in control, beating No. 16 USC 24-7. The offense bounced back, the defense was elite and the special teams did their part.
Here’s how I assessed each phase of a complementary victory.
Offense: B
All week, I said that I don’t think you’ll win Big Ten games, especially against quality opponents, with 60 passing yards. Well, Wisconsin did just that. Colton Joseph went 12-for-14 with 58 yards, only adding 32 on the ground, but the Badgers were in full control.
Another thing I called for this week was getting the running backs more involved. Joseph still logged 15 carries, so he wasn’t excluded from the rushing attack, but Abu Sama saw 17 carries as well, going for 71 yards. It wasn’t a showing on the ground that blew you away, but it was good enough to control the game.
At the end of the day, 24 points against a good opponent is a totally serviceable mark. You never apologize for ranked wins, so I’m not here to argue that the offense was bad. With 200 total yards, and just 58 through the air, I think it remains fair to say that there still needs to be growth in the passing attack.
I was all for Grimes keeping the ball on the ground tonight and avoiding scenarios where Joseph can throw into harm's way. It’s what the game called for and it worked. Moving forward, especially against an Iowa defense, there’s going to need to be more of an aerial attack.
That’s as much critique as I’m offering tonight because like I said, there wasn’t a need to throw tonight, so why do it? I’m extremely intrigued to see how Iowa looks to make Joseph put the ball in the air more often next week.
Defense: A+
The defense played well enough for Wisconsin to dominate this game. I said this week that I didn’t think merely holding up in coverage would be enough from the secondary, it needed to make game-changing plays. It did exactly that, picking off Jayden Maiava twice, setting up the offense in USC territory both times.
While the lack of points to show for the turnovers was concerning initially, the defense proved it was never going to give the Trojans a chance. USC’s -17 rushing yards is slightly deceiving, as -57 yards were totaled on Maiava sacks, but regardless, 40 yards from running backs is an outstanding mark.
Maiava did have some success through the air, taking what Tressel’s zone gave him for stretches. He reached 258 yards on the night, but it took him 50 attempts, and the turnovers were what stood out.
Mike Tressel’s unit did everything you could ask for in the quest for an upset victory. If not for a sideline interference penalty, it very likely would’ve pitched a shutout. We’ll have plenty of good things to say on this side of the ball throughout the week, so for tonight, I’m keeping it simple and saying that you couldn’t have asked for more from the defense.
Special Teams: A-
If not for the missed field goal, this grade would have comfortably been an A. But a 51-yard field goal is long for a college kicker, so I’m not holding it against Gavin Lahm all that much.
More importantly, Junior Poyser made an absolutely massive play near the end of the fourth quarter, getting up to partially block a field-goal attempt that would’ve made it a one-score game. Early in the season, it was the punt return group that wrote the headlines, but tonight, the field goal defense team took points off the board for the Trojans.
Late in the second quarter, the kickoff team got down to stop Boobie Feaster inside the 10-yard line negating any chance of a late USC scoring drive. The play quietly played a pivotal role in the flow of the game.
After the lead was extended to 24-7, the kickoff team once again downed Foster deep, this time at the 18-yard line. This play was less significant in the overall result, but still symbolic of the big night for special teams.
Overall: A
My explanation for the overall grade tonight is pretty simple. Wisconsin totally controlled the game and beat a top-20 opponent on its home turf.
Outside of wishing for more from the offense in the first half, especially when it was set up in scoring position by the defense, there wasn’t much to complain about. The defense was lights out, and like I said earlier, a sideline penalty away from a potential shutout. The offense did plenty to win and the special teams had another good showing.
After an uninspiring showing a week ago, the Badgers have once again created some major momentum. I feel like I’ve said this too many times, but I’d argue next week now becomes the biggest game in the Luke Fickell era. Outside of 2023, he hasn’t even been competitive with the Badgers’ rivals to the west, and if he fails to compete again, his seat may still be warm.
For now, I’m not going to dwell on hypotheticals about next weekend. We’ll do plenty of that this upcoming week. For tonight, Wisconsin dominated a ranked team and moved to 5-2. That’s the story.
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