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Defense stops Denard, comeback
ANN ARBOR — It was like déjà vu all over again.
Through two quarters, Wisconsin dominated all facets of the game in its first trip to Michigan Stadium in more than two years. Entering halftime, the Badgers had shut out the Wolverines, leading 24-0.
As the two teams headed to the locker rooms, the Michigan players were booed off the field, just as they were in 2008, when Wisconsin led 19-0 through 30 minutes of play. Unlike two years ago, however, the Badgers weren’t celebrating anything in the locker room.
“We talked about it being 0-0, just like it was last week against Indiana,” head coach Bret Bielema said of his halftime speech. “That was part of the past.”
That past came back to haunt Wisconsin in the present as the third quarter kicked off.
Michigan took the ball first after the break, and quickly marched down the field for their first touchdown of the day. Capping a drive of 71 yards on 10 plays in just under four minutes, Denard Robinson found Darryl Stonum from 24 yards out, putting the Wolverines on the board for the first time in the game.
Three plays later, Isaac Anderson turned the ball back over to Michigan.
Robinson connected with Stonum again, for 34 yards this time, giving the Wolverines a 1st-and-Goal at the 4-yard line. On the next play, Robinson punched it in.
All of a sudden, the game went from 24-0 to 24-14, and things got very interesting.
“One thing about this team is we don’t let momentum just completely snowball effect and destroy us like that,” senior safety Jay Valai said. “We knew eventually we were going to make a play… and we locked it down from there on.”
One thing that helped was the offense answering quickly following the second Michigan touchdown. Whereas in 2008 the Badgers failed to move the ball effectively as they struggled in the second half, UW went 69 yards in eight plays and 3:52 to go up 31-14.
After another Robinson touchdown run six plays and 2:19 later, Wisconsin answered again, going 45 yards in seven play and 3:14 for the score. Then came the big defensive play that slowed the Michigan offense.
With the Wolverines threatening at the Wisconsin 32-yard line, J.J. Watt tipped a 2nd down pass and hauled in the interception, returning it 15 yards to the Michigan 40-yard line. While it only resulted in three points for the Badgers, it kept at least three, and more likely seven points off the board for the home team.
“We obviously screwed up a little bit in the beginning of the second half,” Watt said. “We know the third quarter wasn’t our best quarter, but the best part about our team is we regroup and we come back and we play strong. That’s exactly what we did.”
After a 40-yard field goal put Wisconsin up 41-21, Michigan answered with a 28-yard touchdown pass from Robinson to Roy Roundtree. Unfazed, the Badgers went back down the other way for a 9-play, 40-yard touchdown drive to retain the 20-point margin at 48-28.
With Tate Forcier in at quarterback for Robinson, the Wisconsin defense made one final stop. After two kneel downs by quarterback Scott Tolzien, the Badgers secured their first win in Ann Arbor since 1994.
Fittingly, they did so by doing the exact opposite of what cost them a win in 2008.
“It’s huge,” said Aaron Henry, who led the team with 10 tackles. “It’s the Big House, everybody knows about the Big House. Everybody knows how hard it is to win in the Big House.”
Big House brings bad memories
MADISON — When he woke up on Sept. 27, 2008, Aaron Henry saw his team come out of the locker room, in front of a crowd of 109,833, leading 19-0 on the road at Michigan.
Henry watched for a few minutes before turning the game off for most of the third quarter. When he tuned back in, things weren’t going so well for Wisconsin.
“I thought, ‘this game’s over,'” Henry said of his first reaction. “When I turned it back on, man, the game was really, really close. It was very, very frustrating and I was a little disappointed to see how things turned out.
“I was very surprised. We were doing everything well as far as our defense goes, and our offense was pretty much doing what they wanted to. But their offense is a big play offense, and they had a couple of big plays. That woke that crowd of 110,000 people up.”
Just minutes before Henry turned the game on, that same crowd was awake and fired up, but not in a way the Wolverines were accustomed to hearing.
“I remember their fans were giving us a pat on the back, telling us we were doing a good job, and they were booing their own team,” Culmer St. Jean recalled. “That was probably a first, but that’s what happens when you get up 19-0 going into the half on the road.”
With such a commanding lead through two quarters, the Badgers had plenty of confidence going into the locker room at halftime. Perhaps even too much.
That’s not too surprising, though, when you consider that Wisconsin outgained Michigan 202 yards to 21 in the first half, while running nearly twice as many plays offensively. Add in more than 20 minutes in time of possession, and the Badgers certainly had quite the half.
Unfortunately, out of five scoring drives, four ended in field goals. Wisconsin went just 1-for-10 on third downs in the first half, and only once punched it in the end zone for a touchdown.
“It was terrible,” Bill Nagy said. “It was just one of those games where we had so many opportunities in the first half, and the defense played their tails off in the first half, but the offense, we just couldn’t capitalize. We got some field goals and it ended up catching up with us in the second half because they had some big plays. That was just a terrible feeling watching that slip away.”
At halftime, leaving the Big House with a loss was the farthest thing from the minds of Badgers as they sat in the visitors’ locker room.
After all, in their minds, they had already won.
“All our guys were piping off in the locker room, we thought it was over, but obviously it wasn’t,” senior safety Jay Valai said. “They came out and they showed that to us.”
“We felt good about ourselves. We were definitely feeling good and I think that’s what killed us,” St. Jean added. “We went in and I don’t think we had the same attack mindset in the second half. We thought they were just going to be flat coming into the second half and they definitely did the total opposite.”
Fortunately, the lesson of that 2008 debacle has not been lost on the 2010 Badgers.
They’ve shown an ability to win on the road already this year, knocking off Iowa at Kinnick Stadium and winning at Purdue earlier this month. Perhaps more importantly, though, they also have shown they’re not afraid to keep their foot firmly on the gas pedal.
With a 21-0 early lead against the then-No. 1 Buckeyes a month ago, the Badgers didn’t get complacent. Even when Ohio State cut the lead to three points in the second half, Wisconsin answered with a couple scores to seal the game.
More recently, UW made national headlines by putting up 83 points against Indiana last week. Even after leading 38-10 at the half, Bret Bielema‘s squad stayed aggressive.
“You just learn from your lessons,” Valai said. “Don’t ever feel satisfied when you’re on the football field, you just keep playing hard. We’ve got to learn from it and make sure it doesn’t happen this year.
“Keep playing. Don’t count your eggs before they hatch, because that’s what we did at halftime.”
For those that might worry the team is too focused on the revenge factor and is not concerned enough with the 2010 Michigan Wolverines, don’t worry.
As the fifth-ranked team in the nation, Wisconsin is well aware of the situation at hand.
“We definitely learned from that game, but it’s not like we’re sitting here thinking about it every single day,” said defensive end J.J. Watt. “We’re the 2010 Wisconsin Badgers, not the 2008 Wisconsin Badgers.”
Leuer dishes 7 assists in victory
MADISON – Knowing that Jon Leuer could put big numbers against its smaller lineup Tuesday night, North Dakota frequently double teamed the Wisconsin big man.
Leuer countered by showing off his equally impressive passing skills.
“Our goal with that was trying to make him work,” UND head coach Brian Jones said. “He’s obviously extremely talented. Him and [Jordan] Taylor, we wanted to limit. We knew we weren’t going to shut them out, but limit their looks at the basket.”
The Fighting Sioux were more effective in limiting Jordan Taylor, as the junior guard added just 10 points on the night for the Badgers, on 4-of-7 shooting. Leuer still managed to put up his points, leading all scorers with 22 on 6-of-10 from the floor.
Most impressive, though, were Leuer’s career-high seven assists.
“He could’ve had 10 assists,” UW head coach Bo Ryan said. “I thought he did a great job of seeing the floor and not forcing things. He’ll need that against some other opponents that we play. He’ll see some of the same things, but we know he can pass.”
While he led the way with seven assists, Leuer was certainly not the only unselfish player on the night for the Badgers.
Wisconsin finished with 20 assists on 31 made baskets, while shooting 62 percent (31-for-50) from the floor on the night.
After Leuer, guards Josh Gasser and Taylor each contributed four assists, while Jared Berggren had two. Nankivil, Tim Jarmusz and Ryan Evans each added one assist apiece.
“They’re such a good passing team, whether you play them zone or man, their bigs do a tremendous job of seeing over the top of people,” Jones said. “We don’t have traditional Big Ten size, so those passes were probably a little bit easier for them tonight.”
It’s been well documented early in the season how much Leuer has improved from last year, thanks in large part to his participation with the USA Select Team.
Most of the time, however, the focus with Leuer is on his scoring ability — both inside and out — and his ability to crash the boards. Little attention is given to the 6-foot-10 forward’s ability to find open teammates.
“It’s kind of hard to work on your passing, I feel like that’s just like the more you play in open gym games, the more repetitions you get, you see things a little better,” Leuer said. “That’s what I was able to do tonight was just read the defense and make the play. Make the right play, hopefully.
“That’s just basically it. Reading the defense and making plays.”
When Leuer read the North Dakota defense, he found fellow senior forward Keaton Nankivil open more often than any other player.
As a result, Nankivil converted three times on Leuer assists, twice for dunks and once from beyond the arc. On the night, Nankivil finished with 18 points on 7-for-8 shooting.
“A lot of it had to do with how well Jon was reading that double team right out of the gates,” Leuer said. “I think they decided that they were going to double the post, and Jon did a great job of finding everybody.”
Defense stifles Chappell show
MADISON – No matter how good your offense may be, it is tough to score 83 points without a strong defensive performance.
After giving up 10 points in the first 16 minutes of the game, Wisconsin’s defense stepped up and put together one of its best games of the season. Unfortunately, it will not make as many headlines as the team’s record point total.
“It just allows us to play looser,” said Aaron Henry. “When you know you’re beating a team like that, man, you really want to go out there and make some plays. It may not be a tight game, but you can just go out there and play free.”
That freedom defensively allowed the Badgers to look better against the Hoosiers offense as the game went along.
After an IU field goal tied it at 10-10 just under a minute into the second quarter, UW allowed just 10 more points the rest of the way while tallying 73 more of their own. In the fourth quarter, Henry added six points of his own.
Henry, who scored his third touchdown of the season, picked a great day to do so.
“Aaron Henry, kind of a special day for him,” head coach Bret Bielemasaid. “His mom was here for the first time and I kind of grabbed him last night and made a big deal of it. There’s such good karma and I thought this would be a special day for him. Lo and behold, he gets the pick six, so it’s kind of a neat thing.”
The defense made its presence felt in the second quarter, following the missed field goal from 52 yards by Indiana kicker Mitch Ewald. The long distance attempt was set up by Devin Smith‘s big tackle, which held the Hoosiers to just four yards on 3rd-and-10.
After the Badgers converted for a touchdown on a two-play drive, the Hoosiers next drive was even shorter.
As backup quarterback Edward Wright-Baker took the first snap of the drive, replacing an injured Ben Chappell, fumbled the ball away to defensive end J.J. Watt, who recovered it at the Indiana 29-yard line.
That set up another Montee Ball touchdown, giving UW a 31-10 lead. On the next drive, Wisconsin forced a three-and-out, setting up a fifth touchdown in the half.
When Indiana got the ball with 17 seconds remaining, Watt put the exclamation point on the first half with a tackle in the backfield for a four-yard loss.
“I was pretty jacked up,” Watt said. “I got down to the locker room and I was dead tired. That was a mistake, I should not have run that far. But I was pretty jacked up, they gave the call that was obviously advantageous to me, I got a great TFL and really captured a lot of momentum going into the half.”
With that second-quarter performance the defense gave the Badgers the opportunity to extend the game from a 10-10 tie to a 38-10 lead at the half. Coming out of the locker room, Wisconsin continued to stifle the Indiana offense.
Though they allowed Chappell to connect on 8-of-14 passes early for 63 yards and a touchdown, the Badgers shut down the Big Ten’s leading passing offense, giving up just 63 yards through the air.
IU was slightly more successful on the ground, picking up 90 yards on 14 attempts. With 90 rushing yards compared to 63 passing, Saturday marked the first time this season Indiana picked up more yardage on the ground than in the air.
“It was tremendous,” Henry said of shutting down the passing game. “Just coming into this year, knowing the challenge that we had ahead of us, it was just real exciting for us to go out there and perform the way that we did.
“This is a high-powered offense. They really rely on big plays, they really rely on their wide receivers, and we did a tremendous job in executing the game plan and really shutting their offense down.”
Having a Ball against IU
MADISON – It was national news this week that John Clay would sit out Saturday against Indiana with a sprained knee.
But those stories forgot to mention one thing: it didn’t matter.
With the reigning Big Ten offensive player of the year watching from the sideline, Wisconsin rushed for 338 yards against Indiana, picking up an average of 7.2 yards on 47 attempts. The Badgers added six touchdowns, one shy of the school record.
“That just speaks to the talent that we have at running back,” John Moffitt said. “It’s great to have those guys.”
Moffitt and the rest of the offensive line opened up gaping holes in the Indiana defense, allowing Montee Ball and James White to put up huge numbers on the day.
On 22 carries – 20 of which came before halftime – Ball rushed for a career-high 167 yards and three touchdowns. Taking on much of the load in the second half, White carried the ball 19 times, picking up 144 yards and two touchdowns.
Not only did Ball pick up 167 yards, he never once lost yardage on the day. Afterward, he credited his success to the impressive play up front.
“I worked hard in practice and I’m glad to see that I carried it over to the game,” Ball said. “Those holes were huge, anybody could’ve ran through them. So I give credit to them for working hard up there.
Ball made his first career start Saturday against the Hoosiers, and for the second straight year, he put up big numbers against Indiana. Last year in Bloomington, Ball rushed for 115 yards and two touchdowns on 27 carries in Wisconsin’s 31-28 victory over Indiana.
Three touchdowns for Ball on the day also marked a career high, while his 167 rushing yards was a season high for a Wisconsin running back. Ball also marked his best rushing performance at home by more than 100 yards, with his previous best being an 11-carry, 64-yard day in the Badgers’ rout of Austin Peay.
“Today was his first start of the year, that’s what’s amazing,” said head coach Bret Bielema. “I really do think Montee understands the schemes.
“He chose us because of the way we play and obviously it’s working very well for him.”
After missing the Purdue game last week with a knee injury, White returned in his usual role as the Badgers’ No. 2 back and put together an impressive performance.
While it took him a few carries to get back to his usual self, White eventually looked as good as he has all season. In the fourth quarter, White rushed for 44 yards on his final play of the game before sitting out the final two minutes.
The Badgers’ third touchdown drive of the game, which followed a missed field goal by Indiana, epitomized the performance Saturday by the Wisconsin rushing attack.
On first down, Ball ripped off a 36-yard run down to the Indiana 30-yard line. As Ball took himself out, White stepped in and took the next play 30 yards for the score. A two-play, 66-yard drive, the Badgers needed just 50 seconds to score the game-changing touchdown.
“I don’t know if Montee would have went right back and had that same burst,” Bielema said. “That’s the part that [running backs coach John Settle] has done a nice job ingraining in the running backs. You need to be fresh to go, and obviously they’re doing that.”
‘D’ ready to shut down Chappell
MADISON – It’s been four weeks since Wisconsin knocked off top-ranked Ohio State in front of a raucous crowd of Badger fans at Camp Randall Stadium.
Finally, after a pair of road wins sandwiched around a bye week, the Badgers return home Saturday to host the Indiana Hoosiers and the Big Ten’s top passing attack.
“It feels like it’s been a month since Lerner’s helmet got taken and we were running around the field,” said safety Jay Valai, referring to the postgame celebration and backup kicker Alec Lerner. “It’s exciting to go back out there, it’s going to be a good atmosphere and I can’t wait.”
One of the highlights of Wisconsin’s last home game was the opening kickoff, which David Gilreath took 96 yards for a touchdown, setting the tone for what was to come. Thanks to the evening start, the stadium was already packed, compared with the thousands of empty seats typically associated with the first quarter at Camp Randall.
With Ben Chappell and Indiana’s vaunted passing attack coming to town, head coach Bret Bielema – who sent a special message out Thursday to student season ticket holders – and the Badgers hope to see fans arrive on time once again.
“If you’re not in the seats before the first couple minutes against Ohio State, you never would have saw David Gilreath’s kickoff return,” Bielema said. “If we could get the student section going [from the start], I think it would be a very, very special thing to close out the rest of the year.”
Following the team’s practice Wednesday, defensive end J.J. Watt echoed his coach’s sentiments.
“We can’t wait to get in front of the home fans, hopefully they’re as rowdy and they were against Ohio State,” Watt said. “It would nice if they could show up on time this week, and it would be much appreciated.”
Aside from asking students to arrive more promptly for the final two home games, the focus this week for Wisconsin, at least on the defensive end, is shutting down the pass.
In the Badgers’ 55-20 victory at Indiana in 2008, Chappell tossed for 126 yards and a touchdown, completing 11-of-20 passes in the first half before missing the remainder of the game due to injury. Following a Chappell touchdown run that put Indiana within one point at 21-20, Wisconsin scored 34 unanswered points over the game’s final 34 minutes.
Last year, playing at Memorial Stadium once again, Chappell connected on 25-of-35 attempts, passing for 323 yards and three touchdowns.
Wisconsin’s defense came up with two interceptions and a sack, all three of which played a major role in the Badgers’ 31-28 victory. This season, interceptions have been easier for opposing defense to come by than sacks against Indiana.
Chappell, who has attempted 378 passes, has been intercepted eight times, which equals the number of sacks allowed by the IU offensive line through nine games.
“They’re an extremely efficient passing offense,” Watt said. “Their quarterback gets the ball out very quickly, so it’s going to be tough to get a lot of sacks on him. I believe they have 380 passing attempts on the year and he’s only given up eight or nine sacks. So he gets the ball out quick and he knows how to avoid the rush.
“We need to get after him. We definitely need to get after their quarterback and try to rattle him.”
If Watt and his fellow defensive linemen are unable to get much pressure on Chappell, the pressure to stop the Hoosiers offense, which averages 27.6 points per game, will fall primarily on the secondary.
Indiana averages nearly 44 passes per game, as opposed to 29 rushes per game. Comparatively, the Wisconsin offense rushes 42 times with 22 passes per game.
Facing an increased workload this week, the secondary looks forward to the challenge.
“Schematically it changes our approach, but defensively it really doesn’t,” safety Aaron Henry said. “We’ve got to go out there and do what we’ve been doing the whole season. This is just another challenge for our secondary to go out their and showcase our abilities. They are the No. 1 passing attack in the Big Ten, but it’s an opportunity for us, so that’s how we’re approaching it.”
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