BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
PROVO, Utah — Wisconsin sophomore quarterback Alex Hornibrook admits he was upset, peeved at the criticism he felt was unnecessary.
But rather than give his feelings a voice, he let his actions speak Saturday in a landmark performance that bordered on the flawless.
Hornibrook set a single-game school record for passing accuracy and established personal bests for passing yards, touchdowns and pass-efficiency rating to help guide UW to a resounding 40-6 non-conference triumph over BYU at LaVell Edwards Stadium.
The most complete game of the season for the 10th-ranked Badgers (3-0) was defined by Hornibrook.
He completed 18 of 19 passes, a 94.7 percent success rate that eclipsed the previous school standard of 94.4 (17-for-18) set by Darrell Bevell vs. Northwestern in 1993.
The only incompletion by Hornibrook — a second-quarter throw over the middle intended for true freshman wide receiver Danny Davis III — was bobbled and dropped.
Hornibrook finished the day with 256 yards, four touchdown throws — the most by a UW quarterback since Russell Wilson had four vs. Minnesota in 2011 — and a single-game pass-efficiency rating of 277.4 that ranks second in program history behind the 296.7 reading John Stocco put up vs. Indiana in 2006.
The outing by Hornibrook serves as an emphatic response to questions he faced regarding his marksmanship last week after Wisconsin outlasted Florida Atlantic 31-14.
"It bugged me a little bit, what people were saying after the game about accuracy and stuff because that's what I pride myself on," he said.
Hornibrook completed 16 of 28 passes for 201 yards and a TD, but he missed some wide-open receivers, threw his only interception of the season and there were times when it looked as though his throws lacked some zing.
Turns out Hornibrook jammed the ring finger on his throwing hand, the left, during practice earlier that week and it affected him.
"I didn't say anything, but I couldn't hold the ball or throw it very well," he said.
That wasn't the case against the Cougars, Football Bowl Subdivision independents who were limited to 192 yards of total offense and held without a TD at home for the first time since 2005.
On defense they couldn't come up with enough answers for true freshman tailback Jonathan Taylor, a bevy of playmaking pass-catchers and, of course, Hornibrook.
"I felt good today and everything was clicking for us," said Hornibrook, who threw two TD passes to sophomore wide receiver Quintez Cephus and one each to sophomore wide out A.J. Taylor and senior tight end Troy Fumagalli.
Jonathan Taylor carried 18 times for 128 yards and a TD and a season-high eight receivers caught at least one pass, helping the Badgers win a true road game for the ninth time in 10 outings in the Paul Chryst head coaching era.
By their own admission, UW players felt they hadn't played their best in their first two games, including a 59-10 season-opening romp over Utah State.
That nagging sense of inconsistency vanished inside a gorgeous mountainside football cathedral before a sun-dappled crowd of 61,143.
"Alex was on point, the receivers were better, the protection was better," Fumagalli said. "I think everything was just a little bit better this week."
It all started with Hornibrook, who did some mind-boggling work in the clutch. He was 8-for-8 for 114 yards and three TDs on third down.
That continues a trend for Hornibrook, who is 18-for-23 for 241 yards and five scores with no interceptions this season.
"He was spot-on today," Fumagalli said.
BYU elected to bracket Fumagalli with two defenders, leaving a lot of space for the wide receivers to maneuver.
"They were bringing two guys to cover him and there's still guys to make some plays for us," Hornibrook said.
Davis set that tone early, hauling in a 50-yard strike in the first quarter that set the stage for Jonathan Taylor's TD that gave the Badgers the lead for good.
Cephus followed with back-to-back touchdown grabs, the first multi-score game of his career.
Fumagalli, a preseason All-American, didn't lead the Badgers in receptions for the first time this year.
"Any way that works is totally fine with me," he said.
Hornibrook has clearly come to trust Davis and Cephus.
"They just fight for the ball," Hornibrook said. "That's all it is. I know if the ball's in the air and there's a 50-50 shot, I know they're going to do everything they can to get the ball and that's all I need."
Cephus was asked if he noticed a different demeanor from Hornibrook compared to last week.
"He just told me to come out and be ready because the way their defense was set up there would be a lot of opportunities," Cephus said. "Then he did his thing.
"Alex knows what we have and we know Alex has a great arm. We just need to run and do our jobs. We know Alex will get us the ball when we have an opportunity."
Hornibrook operated from a clean pocket almost the entire day, which says something about the work of his dinged-up offensive line. Junior backup Micah Kapoi started for the injured Jon Dietzen at left guard, while junior right guard Beau Benzschawel and junior left tackle Michael Deiter played hurt.
"It was huge,'' Hornibrook said of the unit. "They were doing a great job up front the whole game."
Hornibrook said the only blemish, a sack allowed late in the third quarter, was his fault.
"Held onto it a little bit too long," he said.
There wasn't much to complain about after Wisconsin improved to 3-0 in true season-opening road games under Chryst.
"We grew in a lot of ways," he told them in the happy din of the postgame locker room. "You were fun to be around. Loved the way you played."
A welcome bye week will give way to the Big Ten Conference season-opener with Northwestern on Sept. 30 at Camp Randall Stadium.
"Just the beginning," Chryst told his players.
Hornibrook said the victory over BYU brought some redemption.
"I was kind of pissed off, a little angry, because we didn't play as good as we could have," he said. "We came out with an edge."
Now, if only Hornibrook and UW can make that last.
