Badger Bits: Slow start quickly forgotten
September 06, 2008 | Football
How the Wisconsin football team started Saturday's clash with Marshall mattered little as the Badgers ran off the field at Camp Randall Stadium after putting the finishing touches on a 51-14 runaway win Saturday over the Thundering Herd.
Before the Badgers rattled off 51 unanswered points, however, that sluggish start was front and center in the minds of all 80,396 fans in attendance, and the home team found itself staring up from an early 14-0 hole.
The Badgers managed just 25 yards of offense in the first quarter, while the Herd thundered from one end of Camp Randall to the other ' to the tune of 131 yards and a pair of touchdowns.
But, for Marshall, that was it. Almost as though a switch was flipped that transferred momentum to the home sideline, the game was all Badgers over the final three periods.
'We knew if we stayed in the game and continued to get better throughout the game, that things would play themselves out,' senior defensive back Allen Langford said. 'We fixed our discipline, we fixed a lot of stuff that was going wrong and exploded in the second half.'
The UW response was as swift as it was strong. The Badgers scored on each of their three second-quarter possessions and grabbed a 17-14 lead heading into the locker room after Zach Brown scored on a run from three yards out.
'We came out pretty flat in the first quarter,' said junior linebacker Jaevery McFadden, who led the Badgers with nine tackles. 'At halftime we got in the locker room and I said `They aren't scoring in the second half.'
'I told everyone that. I told the offense that they didn't need to worry about (Marshall) scoring in the second half and they could just do what they do. '
McFadden's words proved more than a pep talk, as the Badgers held Marshall scoreless on just 96 offensive yards over the final two quarters. Wisconsin, conversely, put up points on eight of its final nine possessions, including five second-half touchdowns.
'We kind of sputtered in the beginning, but after we got the flow going, it all went (uphill) from there,' said freshman tailback John Clay, who scored a pair of second-half touchdowns. 'We talked about what we needed to do, and we focused on that and did our jobs.'
The offensive component of the Badgers' strong finish was equal parts air assault and ground attack. After missing on his first four pass attempts under constant pressure from Marshall's defensive front, senior quarterback Allan Evridge went 6-for-8 and finished the first half with 151 yards.
'We had a couple of errors in the beginning, we just needed to bounce back, ' Evridge said. 'That's just life, and that's football. You've got to continue to bounce back and keep fighting and things will work back in your favor.'
While Evridge consistently directed the offense into scoring position, it was the Badgers' running game that was tasked with putting up the points. The UW rushing attack accounted for six touchdowns on the day, although the scoring numbers could have been higher for Evridge, who twice in the second half connected with a receiver for a completion that was halted at the Marshall 1 yard line.
P.J. Hill punched in the second of his two touchdowns on the day to cap the Badgers ' first drive of the second half after an Evridge pass placed them on the 1. Then, a 24-yard connection with Lance Kenricks again ended a yard shy of the end zone midway through the fourth quarter. Freshman Bradie Ewing finished the job with his first career touchdown on a one-yard plunge.
Evridge's only passing touchdown came when he effectively sealed the win for the Badgers with a 26-yard scoring strike to Garrett Graham on the UW's second drive of the third quarter. Still, he connected on 65 percent of his passes and finished with his second career 300-yard passing game and first with the Badgers.
'It's always in the game plan,' Evridge said of ramping up the number of passes called this week. 'Last week we had a pretty extensive throwing package, we just didn't have to use it with the offensive linemen playing so well.
'So it's always there, we just had to utilize it this week. '
`A dream come true'
For Ewing, in his first season with the Badgers after a stellar prep career in Richland Center, Wis., finding the end zone in just his second game in the Cardinal and White was even sweeter than he imagined.
'It's a dream come true just to be out there,' Ewing said. 'To get a touchdown like that, my first one, is incredible.'
Ewing's score was a close one, as he lunged for the goal line and then had to wait for the reaction of the nearest official to see if he had stretched far enough.
'I was surprised when he made that call,' Ewing said. 'It was really close.'
Ewing said the only souvenir from the experience will be the memories of congratulations that poured in from his teammates and the sellout crowd at Camp Randall. That, he said, is good enough for him.
'It just happened so fast,' Ewing said. 'Everyone was so happy for me.'
Strength in numbers
For the second time in as many weeks, the Badgers used a platoon at tailback and reaped the rewards of constantly having a fresh set of legs lining up in the backfield.
Four of the UW's running back corps found paydirt, including a pair of touchdowns each for Hill, who finished with a team-high 57 yards, and John Clay.
'The guys up front are doing a great job getting their blocks, and it 's just awesome,' Ewing said. 'We're helping each other out, especially with help from Zach (Brown) and P.J., and the guys up front are doing their job.'
Just a little jealous
Sophomore Niles Brinkley stole the show for the Badgers defensively by snaring a pair of interceptions, and his list of admirers went beyond the fans in the stands to include at least one of his defensive teammates.
'You always want that ball to be in your hands,' fellow d-back Allen Langford said. 'I was kind of jealous, to be honest with you, when he got his two picks.'
Passer pressure
A glance at the final stats won't show any sacks for the UW defense, but the effects of the pressure the Badgers applied to Marshall's passing game were evident elsewhere.
'It was a quiet day as far as stats go, but I thought we were really getting after their offensive line,' senior defensive lineman Mike Newkirk said. 'The quarterback was really good at getting rid of the ball quickly, and they weren't going to stay back there and take too many hits.'
While the Badgers weren't able to put quarterbacks Mark Cann and Brian Anderson on the ground, the UW defense did apply enough pressure to force the Thundering Herd passers into throwing three interceptions.
'(Pressure) is key for us every day,' Newkirk said. 'You 've got to get after the quarterback, and you can't let him sit back there and get after our secondary.'
That pressure on the pocket, combined with a defensive effort that saw the Badgers hold their third consecutive opponent under 100 yards rushing, has Newkirk believing his unit is developing as it needs to.
'I think we're headed in the right direction,' Newkirk said. 'Today we showed on both sides what we could be when we played bad, but also what we can be when we play well.'
