Wisconsin Badgers
4-0
Austin Peay
2-2 , 1-0
Badgers dominate in final non-conference tuneup, 70-3
September 25, 2010 | Football
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Sept. 25, 2010
• Final Stats | Final Stats 
| Notes
MADISON, Wis. -- A nearly flawless day on both sides of the ball Saturday allowed the No. 11 Wisconsin football team to roll past Austin Peay for a dominant 70-3 win in the Badgers' non-conference finale at Camp Randall Stadium.
The Badgers (4-0) were unstoppable on offense and mixed efficient passing with a bruising rushing attack to score touchdowns on each of their first nine possessions.
On the other side, UW's defense surrendered just 157 yards and held the Governors (2-2) out of the end zone. Austin Peay's only score came on a 51-yard field goal by Stephen Stansell just inside the second quarter.
After that, the Badgers scored 56 unanswered points on their way to the highest-scoring game in school history. UW's 70 points eclipsed the previous record of 69 set in a win over New Mexico State in 1962.
"What we really preached to the kids was to play the game the way it needs to get played," UW head coach Bret Bielema said. "I really thought that, after the game got out of hand a little bit scoring-wise and we started rolling people through in all phases, offense, defense and special teams, they continued to play really clean."
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Freshman tailback James White carried a big portion of the load with four rushing touchdowns as one of four Badger running back to find the end zone on the day. By totaling 145 yards, he also combined with senior tailback John Clay (118 yards) to give the Badgers a pair of 100-yard rushers for the first time this season.
Senior quarterback Scott Tolzien also got the job done through the air by completing 15 of 17 passes for 217 yards and three scores - all in the first half.
All told, the Badgers' 618-yard performance was the sixth-best in school history and marked the 11th time a UW team has gone over the 600-yard plateau. For the day, the Badgers moved the ball to the tune of 9.1 yards per play.
Wisconsin's starters did most of the damage in the first half, running the Badgers out to a 49-3 lead at intermission. That included a 35-point second quarter.
UW's defense held the Governors to a mere 8 rushing yards on 16 carries in the half, and Austin Peay gained only another 79 yards on 6-for-12 passing by Jake Ryan.
Those 87 yards of total offense were in comparison to the 418 yards the Badgers piled up behind Tolzien's efficient passing and a balanced rushing attacked spearheaded by Clay.
Clay carried the ball 11 times for 87 yards - a strong average of 7.9 yards per touch - but White stole the show on the ground for UW. He had just four attempts but churned up 90 yards and scored a pair of touchdowns in the first half, including an impressive 66-yard breakaway score.
Senior tight end Lance Kendricks, who finished with 103 receiving yards on six catches, had one of the Badgers' passing scores on a 7-yard connection with Tolzien. Wisconsin's other passing TDs came on a 3-yard connection between Tolzien and Bradie Ewing and a 10-yard toss from Tolzien to Jacob Pedersen.
It all added up to the Badgers' most productive half of offense since hanging 51 points on Temple in the first half of a 65-0 win in 2005.
Wisconsin averaged an impressive 11.3 yards per play in the opening half. For his part, Tolzien was good for 12.8 yards per attempt and had a stellar quarterback rating of 253.7.
Things didn't get much better for the Governors in the second half, as the Badgers' rushing attack kept on rolling.
White added two more rushing scores in the third quarter - runs of 11 and 19 yards - before Montee Ball capped the scoring with a 10-yard scoring run in the fourth quarter.
Backup placekicker Alec Lerner, in his first action at UW, gave the Badgers their record-setting 70th point by tacking on the extra point following Ball's fourth-quarter score.
After facing just two third-down attempts in the entire first half, the Badgers finished the day 5-for-7 on third down. They also amassed 33 first downs, owned an advantage of better than four minutes in terms of time-of-possession and scored on all nine of their red-zone trips.
The Badgers also did not turn the ball over on the day, marking the second-consecutive week the offensive unit has finished without a giveaway. That hadn't happened since the 2007 season.
Wisconsin hits the road next Saturday to begin Big Ten Conference play by facing No. 25 Michigan State in East Lansing. Kickoff is set for 2:30 p.m. (CT) on ABC.
"To get out sort of unscathed, with all the games in the win column, has been good, but we have to get healthy," Bielema said. "We need to get better tomorrow. I've really stressed that to our guys -- there's no day more important than tomorrow.
"I think the guys buy into that, and I'm happy to keep moving forward with them."
Team Stats
APSU 0, WIS 7
WIS - Ewing, Bradie 7 yd run (Welch, Philip kick), 9 plays, 68 yards, TOP 4:48
APSU 0, WIS 14
WIS - White, James 18 yd run (Welch, Philip kick), 5 plays, 57 yards, TOP 2:25
APSU 3, WIS 14
APSU - STANSELL, Steph 51 yd field goal 11 plays, 53 yards, TOP 5:49
APSU 3, WIS 21
WIS - White, James 66 yd run (Welch, Philip kick), 3 plays, 74 yards, TOP 0:56
APSU 3, WIS 28
WIS - Kendricks, Lanc 7 yd pass from Tolzien, Scott (Welch, Philip kick) 5 plays, 60 yards, TOP 1:57
APSU 3, WIS 35
WIS - Ewing, Bradie 3 yd pass from Tolzien, Scott (Welch, Philip kick) 6 plays, 48 yards, TOP 2:47
APSU 3, WIS 42
WIS - Clay, John 12 yd run (Welch, Philip kick), 3 plays, 56 yards, TOP 1:10
APSU 3, WIS 49
WIS - Pedersen, Jacob 10 yd pass from Tolzien, Scott (Welch, Philip kick) 6 plays, 60 yards, TOP 1:02
APSU 3, WIS 56
WIS - White, James 11 yd run (Welch, Philip kick), 9 plays, 64 yards, TOP 4:21
APSU 3, WIS 63
WIS - White, James 19 yd run (Welch, Philip kick), 8 plays, 77 yards, TOP 4:03
APSU 3, WIS 70
WIS - Ball, Montee 10 yd run (Lerner, Alec kick), 8 plays, 50 yards, TOP 4:41
