Lucas: Badgers know they’re ‘not done yet’
November 17, 2019 | Football, Mike Lucas
Gritty win over Nebraska puts Badgers back in thick of division race heading into final weeks of season
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BY MIKE LUCAS
UWBadgers.com Senior Writer
In outlasting the Cornhuskers, 37-21, and winning their seventh consecutive game in the Nebraska series — third in a row here, two shy of their current winning streak in Iowa City — the Badgers stayed in the hunt for the Big Ten West Division title.
On the return flight to Madison, all eyes were on the seatback screens and the live satellite TV broadcast of the Minnesota-Iowa game. Shortly after landing, the Gophers also came back down to earth as they suffered their first loss of the season, 23-19, at the hands of the Hawkeyes.
With two games left in the regular season — Saturday's home finale against Purdue and a road trip to Minneapolis — senior outside linebacker Zack Baun shared this perspective, "Coming off the bye week, we all knew what we had to get done, and what still has to get done, and we're not done yet."
After back-to-back losses at Illinois and Ohio State, the Badgers regrouped, refocused and rebooted during their off-week and have since bounced back with a couple of gritty victories in rivalry games over Iowa (Heartland Trophy) and Nebraska (Freedom Trophy). Since 2010, they are now 21-2 in trophy games against the Hawkeyes, the Cornhuskers and the Gophers (Paul Bunyan's Axe).
Taylor kept himself in the discussion for a trophy, too. The Heisman Trophy.
On a day in which he rushed 25 times for 204 yards — giving him 674 yards against the Huskers in just three career outings — Taylor moved past two-time Heisman winner Archie Griffin into second place on the Big Ten's all-time rushing list with 5,634 yards. He now trails only Ron Dayne (7,125).
Nobody in FBS history has rushed for more yardage through their junior season.
To be recognized among such legendary college football players — be it Griffin, Dayne, Herschel Walker, Marcus Allen, Adrian Peterson, or Name Your Legend — has been pretty staggering for Taylor who humbly conceded, "To be mentioned with such guys is an incredible honor."
After recording his 30th game of 100 or more rushing yards, and 11th over 200 yards, Taylor posed for a picture with his offensive linemen and O-line coach Joe Rudolph.
Safe to say we all feel pretty lucky to get to block for this guy. Congrats on the record bro!! @JayT23
— David Moorman (@DMoorman68) November 16, 2019
"He's an athlete you just don't see every day with the things that he does," said left tackle Cole Van Lanen. "To top it off, he's a great leader, he's a great mentor and he's a great friend. To be able to block for someone like him, to be a part of this, is an awesome feeling and something I'll remember forever. Today, he was not breaking 80-yarders, but he was dragging five guys for five yards."
To Van Lanen's point, Taylor consistently ran through or broke tackles to sustain drives — "If you're able to carry guys maybe for that extra three yards that could be a first down," Taylor rationalized — even though his longest run was "only" 19 yards against the Cornhuskers.
"Here's one for you — I'm a big fan of him," cracked UW head coach Paul Chryst during his postgame media conference. "You're talking about where he's climbing (on the all-time rushing lists) and you're talking about Archie Griffin and Herschel Walker … that's something pretty special.
"Yet, many of you know it, who he is and how he goes about this is the thing you appreciate the most. It's hard to run the ball and to do what he has been doing. He'd be the first one to say, and know, it takes everyone, right? I thought the O-line did a heck of a job today. I feel blessed being able to be around him and the best part is, we still have more games to play. He's truly special in so many ways."
Special teams were also special in Lincoln. After falling behind 7-0, the Badgers quickly counter-punched with Cruickshank's 89-yard kickoff return for a touchdown, the first for Wisconsin since Natrell Jamerson's 98-yard return against Maryland in 2015.
"Since Monday, they were telling me this could be my week, just hit it fast," said Cruickshank, a sophomore from Erasmus High in Brooklyn, New York. "We knew it was going to be a littler shorter kickoff than what we had been seeing, so there was going to be an opportunity and I just had to take it.
"So, as soon as I got the ball, I took a deep breath. And when I looked (upfield), I saw that there was nobody there and I could just run straight and bounce it outside. I had one guy to beat (Cam Taylor-Britt) and I knew he had a good angle on me. But I didn't want to run out of bounds.
"I sized him up, took a back juke, and when he slowed down and stopped his feet, I just kept running. I was a little winded, but that ain't stopping me from getting to the end zone. The last (TD) return I had was against Brooklyn Tech my junior year of high school. It was a big pick-me-up."
That was echoed by his teammates. "It gave me so much juice," said wide receiver A.J. Taylor. "I've been waiting for him to get one since he first started doing this (returning kicks) — since he took my job, basically — and it was electrifying. Any big play like that sparks the team."
Taylor had one of his own: a 55-yard touchdown reception, the longest of his career. "That felt great, one of the best feelings that I've had in a while," said Taylor, whose score matched a Nebraska touchdown and allowed the Badgers to retake the lead, 17-14, in the second quarter.
"Football is a game of momentum," Chryst said, "and anytime you can answer a score … that's a sign of a good offense. I thought in general our team did a good job of answering scores with scores. A.J. had a heck of a run after the catch. You appreciate all that goes into a victory."
The defense gave up sizeable chunks of yardage but got some critical fourth-down stops. One of the timeliest was produced by Pearson, who stopped tailback Wyatt Mazour short of the goal line on Nebraska's final offensive possession of the game. Pearson led the Badgers with a career-high 10 tackles.
"We've been looking for a breakout game from Reggie and we got one," Baun said of the redshirt freshman safety. "We knew this game would present him a lot of opportunities to make plays and show his athleticism, whether coming down on the run or playing back on the post. He took the plan and the scheme that we had in place and took it to the next level."
Pearson also took deep breaths after twice being knocked out of the game. "I've got some compressed nerves — this is nothing new — I've had it since high school, so I'm used to it," said Pearson. "It tends to go away, but you still know it's there and you play through it. I'm just a tough player."
Nobody would dispute that after Pearson doubled his previous high in tackles. "It builds confidence in him," said senior Chris Orr. "The fact that he was able to lead us in that tackles category shows the type of player that he is and can be. We're definitely going to need him down the road."
Chryst was not about to look further than the next opponent and Senior Day.
"I'm going to appreciate this victory and all that goes into it and then tomorrow we're going to get ready for Purdue," he said. "We get to play this season out and the focus is on us …
"We don't have a big group of seniors, but it's a group we certainly care a ton about and we want to finish that the right way."
