BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
MADISON, Wis. — Without coming out and actually saying the word — resiliency — they were all preaching it knowing their ability to recover quickly from heartbreak will define their season.
"It hurts right now obviously," said Wisconsin tight end Troy Fumagalli. "You work so hard and you expect to win and when you come up short, it hurts. There's really no other way around it."
After Saturday night's 30-23 overtime loss, they were all trying to do the same thing in the UW locker room, they were seeking some balance, some middle ground for their emotions.
How do you balance the exhilarating top-10 wins over LSU and Michigan State with the frustrating top-10 losses to Michigan and Ohio State?
"You balance it, by treating every situation the same," said offensive lineman Michael Deiter, who recommended that same even-keeled approach to any in-game success or failure.
For instance, he applied this mindset to how you balance a high (a 16-6 halftime lead over the No. 2-ranked Buckeyes) with a low (11 plays, 11 yards, 2 punts, 1 interception in the third quarter).
So after falling behind (20-16) in the early minutes of the fourth quarter, the Badgers showed their resiliency by regaining the lead on a gritty scoring march of 11 plays and 81 yards.
The drive was capped by fullback Austin Ramesh's four-yard run. It was the first rushing touchdown that the Buckeyes had allowed this season.
"When you're high, you stay level," said Deiter, mature beyond his 20 years. "When you're low, you stay level and try to get back high. That's really the only way you can do it.
"There were obviously moments when we were in control (on offense). We were doing the things that we wanted to do — run the ball, throw the ball. But the lulls ended up getting us beat."
The Badgers rushed for 236 yards (5.1 per carry) against an Ohio State defense that had held four of its five opponents under 100. Yet, they were stuffed twice on the 4-yard-line in overtime.
"We had opportunities to capitalize and we didn't," said Fumagalli, the leading receiver with seven catches for 84 yards. "But there are important things to build off — things that we did well."
For starters, Wisconsin's senior tailback Corey Clement had some violent runs among his 164 rushing yards, matching his career high. "I just allowed myself to be patient," Clement said.
Fumagalli, who threw a key block on Clement's 68-yard second quarter run, was impressed with what he saw out of Clement, who managed just 68 yards (on 17 carries) at Michigan.
"He played with a chip on his shoulder," Fumagalli said. "He left everything out there."
An unexpected source complemented Clement in the ground game. Wide receiver Jazz Peavy picked up 70 yards on six jet sweeps, an 11.7 yards-per-carry average.
Nobody executed that counter better than former Badgers David Gilreath and Melvin Gordon, both of whom were among the banshees that rocked Camp Randall Stadium from start to finish.
"Coach (Paul) Chryst said that he was going to ride the hot horse and he was going to keep running it until they stopped it," said Peavy, who had four rushes in the previous five games.
"Once they stopped it, we went to the phonies."
By decoying Peavy on the jet sweep, it created some inside running lanes.
"I just let the game come to me and it showed," said Clement, who finished all of his runs.
Quarterback Alex Hornibrook was a beneficiary of the revived running attack. When he had time, he was able to get the ball downfield to Peavy, who had a TD catch of 24 and a long gain of 36.
"It looked like a busted coverage," Peavy said of his second quarter score, "because the man (Damon Arnette) who was supposed to be over me ran a different way, so I knew it was coming to me."
Peavy also burned Arnette in the fourth quarter on a critical third-and-9 conversion.
"It was pretty much the same play," said Peavy. "We ran three verticals. I had the right coverage, press coverage. He threw a good ball and I just went up and attacked it and made a play."
On the final snap of overtime, Peavy was trying to come underneath the defense on a shallow crosser along the goal line but Ohio State safety Malik Hooker sniffed it out and dropped into the zone.
Not that it mattered because Hornibrook was sacked before he could get off a throw.
"We were giving up pressures, letting Alex get hit, and that's our job to change that," said Deiter, who alternated between guard and center the entire game as the Badgers juggled O-line combinations.
Scoring touchdowns was tough against the Buckeyes, who forced the Badgers to "settle" for three field goals from senior placekicker Andrew Endicott, who delivered in the clutch.
"I was just hoping people didn't realize that Raf wasn't kicking," Endicott said.
Raf is Rafael Gaglianone who has been lost for the season after back surgery.
"Anytime you can put points on the board as an offense, you're excited," Deiter said. "And when you have a kicker who's hitting kicks like that, it just gives you a bunch of confidence.
"Once you get across midfield, you're looking at points. Even if you don't get that touchdown, which you obviously want, you know you have a chance of getting points. That's really encouraging."
Defensively, the Badgers appeared to wear down in the second half. They were on the field for nearly 10 minutes of the third quarter compared to a little less than five minutes in the second quarter.
Ohio State quarterback J.T. Barrett was relentless. Besides throwing for 226 yards, he rushed for 92 and consistently put pressure on the defense with his escapability in the pocket.
"We missed a lot of tackles and personally, I didn't play well at all and I'm not happy about it," said outside linebacker T.J. Watt, who had five tackles. "I'm not going to make excuses, either.
"We pride ourselves on being the backbone of this team (on defense) and when we need a play, we're there to make it and it just didn't happen (in overtime)."
Both teams ran 74 plays.
"There were definitely a lot of highs," Watt said, "and there were definitely some lows, too. We'll watch the film, get it out of our systems and then we're on to Iowa.
"A lot of guys played really well (Jack Cichy had 15 tackles) and other guys like myself did not. We have to come back stronger than ever and realize that we're in the Big Ten West."
Good point. The Badgers will play their first game against a West Division opponent on Saturday at Iowa followed by another home night game against Nebraska, still unbeaten.
This stretch will definitely test their resiliency.
"We've shown that we can hang with anybody in the country," said Peavy, taking inventory on the 2-2 record versus the top 10. "Now, we have to learn and grow from it. And that's our plan."
