UW Stays Perfect; Routs Minnesota 38-14
November 06, 2004 | Football
The University of Wisconsin football team showed its offense can be strong as its defense as Anthony Davis and John Stocco combined for five touchdowns in leading the Badgers past Minnesota 38-14 Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium.
UW (9-0 overall, 6-0 Big Ten), ranked No. 4 by ESPN/USA Today and No. 3 by the Associated Press, racked up a season-high 525 yards of offense, while its top-ranked defense held the Golden Gophers (6-4, 3-4) to their second lowest output of the season at 331 yards.
'I'm very pleased with the way our guys came out and played,' head coach Barry Alvarez said. 'The last game at Camp Randall is always an important one for the seniors, so we really put a lot of emphasis on that and asked everyone to win this game for the seniors.'
The game also was important because the Badgers won back the Paul Bunyan Axe and finished the season undefeated at home for the first time since 1998. They did it by doing what they do best'controlling the tempo of the game by holding a 44:31-15:29 advantage in time of possession, executing 86 plays to Minnesota's 52.
Davis ran the ball 31 times for 124 yards and two touchdowns, including what turned out to be the game-winner. Stocco, meanwhile, threw a career-high 297 yards and was 19-of-26 to accompany his two rushing touchdowns and one passing touchdown.
The sophomore quarterback spread the wealth on offense, completing passes to nine different receivers, including Jonathan Orr, who caught a 17-yard touchdown in the 21-point first quarter.
Brandon Williams, who caught five passes, led all receivers with 87 yards, including a 43-yard pass on 1st-and-5. Owen Daniels added 39 yards from four catches.
Minnesota's running back tandem of Laurence Maroney and Marion Barber III, both of whom rumbled for 1,000 yards in 2003, were held to just 57 and 34 yards, respectively, as the team was held to below 100 yards rushing for the first time this year.
Quarterback Bryan Cupito provided the bulk of the Gophers' offense, completing 17-of-33 passes for 258 yards and one touchdown. The first-year starter was forced to throw frequently when Minnesota limited its ground game after falling behind 21-0 in the first quarter.
That quarter saw the Badgers score on all three of its possessions. On the first, which consisted of nine plays for 80 yards in just 2:42, Stocco used a QB sneak for the early score. He followed that up eight minutes later with his deep ball to Orr, who caught the pass in the corner of the end zone.
Davis scored back-to-back touchdowns late in the first and early in his second and now has 10 TDs this season.
UW then made it 31-0 with Mike Allen's 41-yard field goal, which meant the team scored on its first five possessions. Minnesota managed to avoid the first-half shutout with Cupito's touchdown pass to Ernie Wheelwright with 4:07 remaining.
Maroney's 31-yard scoring run early in the third gave the Gophers' their final points of the game. Wisconsin answered with a 7:34 drive of 80 yards that ended with Stocco's two-yard naked bootleg to the left.
Minnesota's defense improved a bit thereafter'the Badgers had their first punt of the game in the fourth quarter'but UW kept the ball for 11:13 in the final period to preserve its lead.
Wisconsin will hit the road for its final two games, first taking on Michigan State at 2:30 p.m. CT in East Lansing, Mich.
NOTES
Wisconsin improved to 9-0 overall on the season with the win. It is the third time in school history that the Badgers have started a season with nine straight wins (1998, 1901). UW now has a nine-win regular season for the ninth time in school history, but just the fifth time since 1901 ' today's game marked the 114th meeting in school history between Wisconsin and Minnesota. It is the most-played rivalry in Division I football. UW reclaimed possession of Paul Bunyan Axe with the victory ... the win gave Wisconsin just its second undefeated and untied home record since 1962. UW also went undefeated and untied at Camp Randall Stadium in 1998 ' the 86 plays from scrimmage and 525 yards of total offense are both season highs for the Badgers. The yardage total is Wisconsin's highest since it had 630 yards of offense vs. Michigan State on Nov. 15, 2003. The number of plays is the highest since it ran 87 against Ohio State on Oct. 2, 1999 ' Wisconsin opened the game with four consecutive touchdown drives. The last time UW put together four straight drives that resulted in touchdowns was vs. Michigan State on Nov. 15, 2003 ... with 124 rushing yards today, Anthony Davis moved past Michigan's Jamie Morris into eighth place on the Big Ten 's all-time rushing list. Davis now has 4,469 rushing yards in his career.
POST-GAME QUOTATIONS
Wisconsin Head Coach Barry Alvarez
Opening Comment: 'I'm very pleased with the way our guys came out and played. I'm pleased with the win. We tried to dedicate the game to the seniors. It's been an outstanding group as far as giving us leadership, and following our plan, and doing everything we've asked them to do. The last game at Camp Randall is always an important one for the seniors, so we really put a lot of emphasis on that and asked everyone to win this game for the seniors. It was also important for us to get the (Paul Bunyan) Axe back. That's a symbol of history in college football, and we think it's important, and I don't like an empty trophy case. Being the athletic director, I'm concerned with finances now and I didn't want to waste that trophy case. But all-and-all I 'm very proud of our players. e used that open date to our advantage. We got them fresh. We really pushed them early in the week and had physical practices so we could get back into our tempo. I thought our offensive was really outstanding today, led by John (Stocco). I gave John the game ball. You know playing against your home state school is meaningful, and he had one of the better quarterback performances that we've had in a long time, so he certainly deserved it. So all-and-all I'm very, very pleased with the win.'
With today's effort does that perhaps legitimize your championship-caliber intention' 'I don't know what it means or how people perceive us, and quite frankly, I don't care. I really don 't. I sound like a broken record, and I'm not trying to be short, or curt 'we just want to win games. This is a tough league, every week we know we have to play well. Our focus right now is on Michigan State. When it's all said and done, when the season's all said and done, we'll take a look at it and see where everything lays out'it will lay out okay. And if we take care of our business, we'll be where we need to be.'
What was your plan with Erasmus James today ' 'Well 'Ras felt that he'well, we got him a brace late in the week that we think gave him a little more support and he was comfortable with it. He thought he could play in passing situations and help us, but at the half, we shut it down. We got a few plays out of it, but then that was it.'
He appeared to be tripled-teamed on one play, do you see that much'
'You know I guess when you watch film of (No.) 90, you should probably give him some attention, but I don't know, you don't see very many triple-teams.'
What about the job your defense did on their running game ' 'Well they really didn't run the ball much. And early on in the game they didn't have many snaps. If I'm not mistaken, it was 21-0, and they had six snaps. So when you're put in that position, it's hard, you know. I would guess their game plan coming in was to try to establish the run and then play-action and then throw when they chose. But all of a sudden you're 21 points down and it changes your game plan, and you have to throw the ball a little more than you want. I'm just looking at the numbers here, and (Laurence) Maroney carried the ball only eight times in the game. So we dictated what they can do, so I don 't know if it's so much we stopped the run, as they didn't run it that much because of the way the game went.'
Minnesota Head Coach Glen Mason
Opening Statement: 'Needless to say, we were dominated by Wisconsin. For whatever reason we didn't start that game ready to play. And, if you're going to play against a quality team like Wisconsin, you 'd better bring your `A' game, and we obviously didn't. Our defense didn't seem like they could stop anything at the beginning of that game. We knew it would be tough going against the Wisconsin defense, let's face it, but apparently, that whole first half there was very little quality football on our part. At halftime, (we were) on the verge of being totally embarrassed and run out of the state of Wisconsin. Then we made some things happen offensively and thought if we could get a stop or a turnover on our own half, we could make this a ballgame. Needless to say'I think I used the word `frustrated' last week'I'm totally disappointed in almost every aspect of my program. I say my program, because I'll take responsibility for anything that went on or didn't go on.'
On third down conversions: 'That's really been the history of us the last couple weeks. We do a very good job on first and second down, we get what is normally a pretty hard down to convert offensively and we don 't seem to do that effectively at all. I've been saying this off and on the last couple weeks, I guess maybe because you're for a loss of what to say. Where do you go from here' I don't know. We got our brains beaten a couple minutes ago. Fundamentally, we're flawed right now to be playing that bad. '
On the strength of the Big Ten Conference: 'I really don't know if the Big Ten's down or not. I don 't have an opportunity to see the teams from the other conferences. A couple years ago everybody said the Big Ten was down, and then it went 6-1 in bowl games and the next thing you know we're the strongest conference in the country. I'm a firm believer that you win championships in any conference or in any level with defense, and (UW has) got to be one of the best defenses there is in the country. I think if anybody can go through the Big Ten unscathed, then you've really done something.'
UW Players
Wisconsin Defensive Back Erasmus James
On his effectiveness in the game: 'I thought I was pretty effective when I was in, but as the points went up I thought I didn 't really need to play anymore and I should just get another week's worth of rest.'
On the emotion of being a senior and getting the axe back at the final home game: 'It felt great to get the axe back. We're 9-0, we look 1-0 every week and it's just a great opportunity to show these younger guys what we do here and how we want to keep this axe in its case.'
On the effect of his pass deflection: 'I definitely thought that it sent a message to the opposing sideline.'
Wisconsin Defensive Lineman Reggie Cribbs
His thoughts about the game: 'I'm really happy that I got to see the seniors go out the way they did. Minnesota has a very good offense, very good running backs, but I thought that we played very well. '
On staying focused each game: 'We just look at each game as the most important game because now it is. If we lose now, then nothing else matters, so we just go into each game and play our best.'
On this game being a shoot-out: 'We know that their offense is very good, but our defense doesn't give up a lot of points. We definitely didn't think it was going to be a shoot-out, but I'm glad that our offense came out early and took them out of their game plan.'
Wisconsin Running Back Anthony Davis
On getting the axe back: 'It feel great, I don't have to look at that empty trophy case anymore.'
On feeling fresh this game: 'I felt pretty good today. I thought that bye-week really helped. Coach had a great plan for the bye-week so we could get enough rest and get time for ourselves. His plan was great and it really prepared us to come out here and play fast.'
On the game coming easily: 'We weren 't really focusing on them, our focus is on us. We know what we're capable of doing and all we can really worry about as an offense was coming out here and making a statement and having a break-out game.'
Wisconsin Quarterback John Stocco
On the emotions involved in beating his home-state team: 'It's unbelievable. You know, this is just a great tradition. And like you said, that's where I'm from. That's where I'm close to'where I grew up. Obviously, every game is important, but playing Minnesota is just a little special for me so it was just unbelievable to get the axe back.'
On being in the zone in the first half: 'Our receivers made some outstanding plays throughout the whole game. All I really did was throw it up to them and they just made outstanding plays for us. The line blocked their (butts) off. It was just a team effort'it was just awesome.'
On being surprised by his offensive numbers: 'I wasn't really surprised. I'm just going to do everything I can to help the team win and I try not to force the ball. If they give me an opportunity to hit them deep, I'm going to try and do that. Other then that, just try and move the chains and be good on third down. We were excellent today on third down. That that 's something we talked about all year, and we just kept the chains moving. '
