BRONX, N.Y. — Jonathan Taylor ran for 205 yards and a touchdown and topped the 2,000-yard mark for the season in leading Wisconsin to a 35-3 rout Miami in a chilly New Era Pinstripe Bowl on Thursday.
Sensational inside historic Yankee Stadium, Taylor ripped off runs of 39 and 41 yards and combined with a defense that forced five turnovers to help Wisconsin (8-5) claim its fifth straight bowl victory — the longest streak in Big Ten history. With a bowl win over the Hurricanes for the second straight season, the Badgers improved to 16-14 all-time in bowl games.
The loss had to seem like a rerun for Miami (7-6) after Taylor ran for 130 yards in Wisconsin's 34-24 win over the Hurricanes last season in the Orange Bowl.
"We've got the best back in the country," Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst said after he accepted the trophy from Yankees owner Hal Steinbrenner.
The Badgers came out swinging for the fences — they scored two touchdowns just 3 1/2 minutes into the game and seemingly knocked the will out of Miami. Leading the Badgers to 406 total yards, quarterback Jack Coan made the most of his start and hit Kendric Pryor for a 35-yard TD on the first drive. Miami quarterback Malik Rosier's first pass of the game was intercepted by Eric Burrell and Taylor capitalized with a 7-yard score to make it 14-0 before some fans even hit their seats with a hot drink.
Wisconsin's defense picked off two more Rosier passes -- one interception each by sophomore Caesar Williams and senior T.J. Edwards, who recorded the 10th of his career to give him more than any linebacker in school history -- before the QB was replaced late in the third quarter.
Coan, a Long Island native, needed nearly 50 tickets for friends and family. He ran right for a 7-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter for a 28-3 lead that made it worth the trip for the thousands of fans in red that stuck it out to the end. The bowl victory marked Coan's fourth start, and fifth total appearance, on the season.
Coan was the home state star, but Taylor put a final exclamation point on a season that made him one of college football's top stars.
Named the game's MVP, Taylor had 117 yards at halftime and finished with his fifth 200-yard game of the year, bumping his nation-leading average to 165.8 yards per game. With 2,194 for the season, he joined Ron Dayne (1996, 1999) and Melvin Gordon (2014) to give Wisconsin three 2,000-yard rushers in its history, more than any other FBS program.
Rosier's third interception of the game was turned into a 2-yard touchdown run by Alec Ingold and a 21-3 lead for the Badgers. N'Kosi Perry eventually checked into the game — but Taylor and Coan had long turned this one into a rout.
Edwards led the Badgers with nine tackles in his collegiate finale and also recovered a fumble forced by senior OLB Andrew Van Ginkel. Van Ginkel had eight tackles, including four solo stops. He also had the Badgers' only sack and had two tackles for loss.
Junior ILB Chris Orr finished the day with eight tackles and an interception, his first this season and second of his career.
The AP contributed to this article.
