MIAMI — Alex Hornibrook threw four touchdown passes, three of them to Danny Davis, and No. 6 Wisconsin capped off the winningest season in school history by topping No. 11 Miami 34-24 in the Orange Bowl on Saturday night.
"We were pretty relaxed," Hornibrook said. "We knew we had what it takes to win this game."
Everyone does now.
The Badgers scored their 13th win of the season, the most in school history. UW finished 13-1 overall, including a 6-0 mark on the road. The Badgers have won double-digit games in each of the last four seasons.
Jonathan Taylor capped his record-setting freshman season with 130 rushing yards on 26 carries for the Badgers (13-1), who rallied from an early 14-3 deficit. Taylor finished the year with an FBS-freshman-record 1,977 yards, breaking the record previously held by Oklahoma's Adrian Peterson (1,925 yards in 2004). He finished the season with 1,977 yards, the fourth-best single-season total in UW history.
Wisconsin's victory also improved the Big Ten to 7-0 in bowls this season.
"You play the whole season and you earn what you get and I'm proud of this team," Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst said. "They can call themselves Orange Bowl champions. That's pretty big."
The Badgers dominated time of possession, holding the ball for nearly 40 minutes. Hornibrook completed 23 of 34 passes for 258 yards, going 20 for 25 in the final three quarters. A.J. Taylor also had a scoring catch for Wisconsin.
Hornibrook's 3-touchdown performance game marked the fourth of his career and also set a Wisconsin bowl game record. He threw for 24 touchdowns this season to rank second on UW's single-season list behind only Russell Wilson (33 in 2011). Prior to tonight, no Badger QB had thrown more than two touchdown passes in a bowl game. Hornibrook also improved to 20-3 (.870) as the Badgers' starter, the best win percentage of any QB in school history.
Travis Homer and Deejay Dallas had rushing scores for Miami (10-3), which was in the Orange Bowl for the 10th time and lost on its home field for the first time in 2017. Lawrence Cager had a touchdown catch for the Hurricanes, while quarterback Malik Rosier was 11 for 26 passing for 203 yards — with three interceptions.
"They did a really good job making me throw balls into tight coverage," Rosier said.
Homer went in from 5 yards out to give Miami the early lead, and Dallas' 39-yard scamper for a score out of the wildcat formation pushed the Hurricanes' edge to 14-3 late in the first quarter, but the local team couldn't hold on to that lead.
Rosier's pass was intercepted by Wisconsin's Andrew Van Ginkel on the first play of the second quarter, and the game quickly changed. Hornibrook threw touchdown passes on three consecutive possessions — two to Davis, one to A.J. Taylor — and the Badgers held the ball for more than 11 minutes in that quarter alone on the way to taking a 24-14 lead into the half.
Hornibrook became just the third Badgers quarterback in the last 15 years to have multiple games with at least four touchdown passes in the same season.
The Hurricanes had a chance to get within a touchdown midway through the fourth, but Michael Badgley's chip-shot field goal went off the right upright. By the time Miami got the ball back, only 1:37 remained. Rosier was picked off for the third time 18 seconds later by Wisconsin's Ryan Connelly and the Badgers ran out the clock.
UW now joins Ohio State (2002, 2014) and Michigan State (2013) as the only Big Ten teams to win 13 games in a season. Wisconsin won its fourth consecutive bowl game, doing so for the second time in school history (1998 to 2002 seasons). Adding in last year's victory in the Cotton Bowl, the Badgers have won back-to-back New Year's Six bowls.
Wisconsin's senior class also scored its 45th win, extending its school record for the most wins in a four-year period.
The Associated Press contributed to this article.
