BY ANDY BAGGOT
UWBadgers.com Insider
MADISON, Wis. — There are 130 teams on the current Football Bowl Subdivision roster and Wisconsin has played 89 of them in its history.
Central Michigan will be added to that list Saturday at 2:30 p.m. when it faces the Badgers in a non-conference game at Camp Randall Stadium.
It seems odd that the Chippewas, who debuted in the Mid-American Conference in 1975, have never faced Wisconsin before.
Until now, the biggest football link between the schools has been J.J. Watt, whose college career began as a scholarship tight end on the Mount Pleasant, Michigan, campus and ended with the Badgers as a decorated All-America defensive end in 2010.
The MAC has long been a non-league scheduling resource for Big Ten Conference teams. To wit, Wisconsin has played 34 games against current MAC schools, winning 32 times.
Coming into the season, the Badgers had played 10 of the 12 MAC teams at least once. The lone exceptions were Central Michigan and Kent State.
In a span of 30 days, both will come off that list. The Golden Flashes come to Camp Randall on Oct. 6.
Here are five more things to know:
The Chase Continues
According to the NCAA record book, the Football Bowl Subdivision standard for most 100-yard rushing games in a career is 34, set by DeAngelo Williams of Memphis from 2002 to '05. Wisconsin junior tailback Jonathan Taylor has 23 after his outing (15 carries, 135 yards) in a 49-0 rout of South Florida in the season opener. He could tie the mark by running the regular-season table, but there's some potential wiggle room in the form of a bowl game and a berth in the Big Ten Conference title game. Taylor has played 28 college games, which means he's rushed for 100 or more yards 82 percent of the time. That ratio is easily the best among the 18 1,000-yard rushers in school history — 1999 Heisman Trophy winner Ron Dayne is next at 70.2% (33-for-47) — and better than Williams' 77.2% (34-for-44).
Striking a Balance
A perennial goal for the Wisconsin offense is balance. A prime example of that came in the season-opening romp over South Florida. The Badgers rushed for 234 yards and passed for 201, marking the 10th time they've put together a 200-200 game since Chryst took over in 2015. They are 9-1 in those outings with the only loss coming vs. Ohio State in 2016. Going back to when Chryst was the sole offensive coordinator, from 2006 to '11, Wisconsin was 18-2 when topping 200 yards rushing and passing in the same game. The lone losses came to Michigan State in 2011 and Oregon in the 2012 Rose Bowl.
Upon Further Review
Taylor is the first 1,000-yard back in Wisconsin history to have multiple rushing and receiving touchdowns in the same game. He had two of each vs. South Florida while averaging a first down — 10.2 yards — per attempt on 18 touches and 183 yards. The only other one with multiple TDs receptions in a game is Brian Calhoun, who did that vs. Purdue in 2005. Calhoun – who will serve as honorary captain for this Saturday's game at Camp Randall – also accounted for a school-record-tying five rushing touchdowns vs. Bowling Green and Illinois that season.
Zero Impact
Jim Leonhard has now been a part of two shutouts since taking over as Wisconsin defensive coordinator in 2017. Both came on the road, one to open the 2019 regular season and the other to close one out in 2017 (Minnesota). That might seem like a modest total until you consider that he's been the DC for only 22 games at his alma mater and that he never experienced a shutout in 51 games as an All-America free safety for the Badgers from 2001 to '04. Besides, shutouts are hard to come by. Wisconsin now has 45 in the modern era, dating back to 1946. Ivy Williamson had nine on his watch, while Barry Alvarez and Milt Bruhn had seven, Dave McClain six, Paul Chryst and Harry Stuhldreher four, Gary Andersen and Bret Bielema three each, and John Jardine two. Stuhldreher had 14 shutouts overall, but most came prior to the modern era. Phil King, a College Football Hall of Famer as a player and coach, had a program-record 55 shutouts prior to that modern era during two different coaching stints in Madison.
Comparatively Speaking
Redshirt freshman tailback Nakia Watson had a pretty solid college debut vs. South Florida, carrying 14 times for 80 yards and a touchdown. How does he square up with some of his predecessors on the Badgers' all-time rushing list? He outgained Melvin Gordon (7-38), Dayne (8-53) and James White (11-59), and Watson outscored Montee Ball and Anthony Davis.
