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Missed opportunities costly in Rose Bowl
PASADENA — Many times, in talking about what his team did to get to a share of the Big Ten championship and a Rose Bowl bid, Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema went back to their Oct. 2 loss at Michigan State.
As he saw it, Bielema’s team managed an 11-1 record with big wins over then No. 1 Ohio State and on the road at Iowa because of what they learned from the Badgers’ loss to the Spartans. Had it not been for that game, they wouldn’t be where they are today.
Ironically enough, nearly three months later, the issues that cost Wisconsin in its only regular season loss were much the same problems they had in the Rose Bowl against TCU. The Badgers couldn’t get off the field on third down and left plenty of points on the board through missed opportunities in the close loss.
“I don’t think anybody can beat us but ourselves,” said left guard John Moffitt. “I think we beat ourselves today. We didn’t do what we needed to do.”
From the beginning — literally as Montee Ball ripped off a 40-yard run on the first play from scrimmage — the TCU defense struggled to stop the potent Wisconsin offense. It was the Badgers themselves that did most of the work in keeping points off the scoreboard.
Unfortunately for the Big Ten champions, they followed Ball’s big run — which brought them form their own 32-yard line to the TCU 28 — with a false start penalty on Nick Toon. When the drive came to an end, the Badgers put three points on the board on a 30-yard Philip Welch field goal, which came on 4th-and-8 at the 13-yard line.
On the previous play, Toon added a second mistake, dropping a pass over the middle. Had he not been called for the false start penalty, however, the Badgers would have been in a 1st-and-Goal situation on that series, rather than 1st-and-10 at the 15.
“What got us here was clean execution and clean disciplined football,” quarterback Scott Tolzien said. “We didn’t do that today all around, myself included.”
Tolzien, normally as efficient a quarterback as you’ll find, went just 12-of-21 for the game, passing for 159 yards while getting sacked twice.
On their first drive of the game, Wisconsin left a potential touchdown drive out there, but managed to salvage it with a field goal. When they opened the second quarter with another long drive, they weren’t so lucky.
After moving the ball down the field from their own 23-yard-line to just outside the red zone, Wisconsin faced 4th-and-3 at the TCU 22-yard line. Trailing 14-10, Bielema sent Welch out once again for the 39-yard attempt. He missed it, wide left, for another three points left on the board.
“I just think we missed out on a lot of opportunities that we had,” left tackle Gabe Carimi said. “It’s really just missed opportunities through and through.”
The missed opportunities and sloppy play were not limited to the offense, either.
A pass interference call on Devin Smith played a role in TCU matching Wisconsin’s early field goal with a 10-play, 77-yard touchdown drive that took less than 4 1/2 minutes off the clock.
Later, on what was perhaps the worst pass of the day from TCU quarterback Andy Dalton, free safety Aaron Henry couldn’t come up with what could have been a game-changing interception.
On the first play following Welch’s missed field goal, a pass intended for Jeremy Kerley went through Henry’s hands over the middle. While he broke up the pass effectively, it was a very catchable ball for Henry.
Whereas the Badgers continually missed out on opportunities and left plenty of points on the board, the Horned Frogs always seemed to make the right plays at the right time. In the end, that made a big difference in a game decided by just two points.
“It is definitely unfortunate man, but sometimes that’s just the way the ball bounces,” Henry said of the loss. “They made a few more plays than we did. But this team fought hard every step of the way, and hats off to my teammates. But TCU, they did a tremendous job and unfortunately, they just made a few more plays than we did.”
Several Badgers among awards finalists
MADISON — As the postseason awards name their finalists, they should always be taken with some grain of salt. Even with that in mind, it was an impressive week for Wisconsin.
As a number of postseason individual awards named finalists this week, five Badgers — four on offense and one on the defensive side of the ball — and one UW head coach made the cut. They weren’t listed for just any awards either.
Senior left tackle Gabe Carimi made the final cut for the Outland Trophy, given annually to the nation’s best interior lineman. Three-time Pro Bowler, and Brookfield, Wis., native Joe Thomas currently holds the honor of being the only Outland Trophy winner in school history.
“I remember holding the bag for Joe Thomas,” Carimi said. “It’s a long way from that.”
Carimi’s honor undoubtedly comes in part as recognition for Wisconsin’s dominant rushing attack, which has been near impossible to stop over the past few games.
Of course, the three-headed monster out of the backfield wouldn’t likely have quite the same success without Carimi, a future first-rounder, leading the way.
“It’s a great honor and all I have to do is focus on keeping on playing well,” Carimi said. “I know my teammates helped me out to get me in that position. We have a great offensive line and obviously they looked at that, and we’re scoring and we’re running well. Obviously all that came into play when I got nominated.”
Joining Carimi in playing a huge role in blocking for the Wisconsin running game is senior tight end Lance Kendricks. While the Milwaukee native has not enjoyed the kind of statistically impressive season many predicted for him in the passing game, it didn’t matter.
Kendricks found his name this week as one of three finalists for the Mackey Award, given annually to the nation’s best tight end. Though current New York Giants tight end Travis Beckum was a semifinalist in 2006 and a finalist in 2007, if he were to win Kendricks would be the first Mackey Award winner in school history.
“That was definitely one of my preseason goals, just a personal goal to have and just something to strive toward,” Kendricks said of the award. “I think it’s a good honor just to be nominated for something like that.
“Just going out there and working hard and knowing at the end of the day, as long as you work hard, you’re going to get better. I think that’s kind of just what I live by as far as playing football.”
With Kendricks up for one of the more prestigious awards in the nation, it has not gone unnoticed by Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema.
In fact, he’s gotten on the phone since hearing the news, campaigning for his tight end. It’s not the first time Bielema has done such a thing, either.
“Early in my coaching career, one of the first players that was up for a national award was, Joe Thomas was up for the Outland Trophy,” Bielema said. “At the time Justin [Doherty] was the guy, and I said ‘Give me the voting list of all the people that vote for the Outland Trophy,’ and I just started calling people.
“I was in my car, driving around recruiting, called like 25 people, and they were all taken aback that I would call and lobby for my guy. I’m like, ‘Well, hey, he’s done everything for me for this year and beyond, I’ll do anything for him.’ So I’ve gotten on the phone over the last week and tried to reach out to so many people.”
One of three running backs Carimi and Kendricks have been blocking for is John Clay, the reigning Big Ten offensive player of the year.
Despite missing the last two games due to injury, Clay was one of three finalists for the Doak Walker Award, given each year to the best running back in the country. While backups Montee Ball and James White have stolen the show lately, Clay got the nod as the Badgers leading rusher.
While the injuries have prevented Clay this season from putting up the numbers he’s shown he is capable of, the success and reputation of the Wisconsin rushing attack likely gave him a boost.
“I definitely think that has a lot to do with the success of the team,” Kendricks said of the multiple award finalists. “It’s hard to say enough about those guys.”
While Carimi, Kendricks and the rest of the offensive line lead the way up front for Clay, none of it would run as smoothly as it has without a competent signal caller behind center. Enter senior quarterback Scott Tolzien who has quietly led the nation in completion percentage through 11 games.
Tolzien, who also ranks in the top ten in pass efficiency, was named a finalist this week for the Johnny Unitas Golden Arm award, given each year to the top senior quarterback in the country.
“Me and Gabe were talking about it, and there’s a lot of interchangeable parts on this team, along the line, the running backs, the receivers, and I don’t think Scott Tolzien is one of them,” said senior left guard John Moffitt. “Scott is a valuable piece of the offense.”
Being the humble leader that he is, Tolzien politely disagreed.
“I think this program’s in good hands no matter who’s at quarterback.”
Along with the four offensive nominees, junior defensive end J.J. Watt was named a finalist for the Lott IMPACT Award, and Bielema was named by the Football Writers Association of America as a finalist for the Eddie Robinson Coach of the Year Award.
In talking about the awards at his Monday press conference, Bielema looked beyond the simple recognition of his players’ accomplishments.
What he was most proud of was the character of the athletes nominated.
“In today’s day and age, with these national awards, it’s one thing, it’s his body of work usually their senior year, or the year that they win the award that they’re going to get this basically get the recognition,” Bielema said. “But what’s this person going to be like two years, a year from now, two years from now, three years from now? I think it came to light with the Reggie Bush thing, and now there’s all this other discussion.
“I can guarantee this, J.J. Watt’s up for awards, Lance Kendricks is up for awards, Scott Tolzien is up for awards, John Clay, [is up for the Doak Walker Award].
“But those kids, if they win those awards, there will never be a day of embarrassment for that trophy because they represent some pretty good qualities in people.”
Kerrigan next test for O-line
MADISON – In putting together a list of the top defensive linemen in the Big Ten, four names quickly come to mind: Cameron Heyward, Adrian Clayborn, Ryan Kerrigan and J.J. Watt.
Of those four, Wisconsin has faced two, Heyward and Clayborn, in their two biggest wins of the season over then-No. 1 Ohio State and at Iowa. Watt, of course, lines up at defensive end on a weekly basis for the Badgers, earning a number of national honors in recent weeks.
That leaves Kerrigan, the Purdue Boilermakers defensive end, and the third in a line of three straight high-profile defensive stars on the schedule for UW. While the other three may get more press, Kerrigan could very well be the best of the bunch.
“To this day, I think that Ryan Kerrigan, their defensive end, is probably one of the premier players in our league,” Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema said. “I really thought last year he was at a whole other level. [He] plays extremely hard, extremely gifted.”
Through eight games this season, Kerrigan leads the Big Ten in several defensive categories, including sacks with 7.5 and tackles for loss with 18.5. Ranking fourth and second in those categories, respectively, is Watt with five sacks and 13.5 tackles for loss.
Kerrigan’s three forced fumbles also tie him with Michigan State’s Greg Jones for the most in the conference, with the Boilermakers having played one fewer game than MSU. With 49 tackles and a 6.1 tackles per game average, Kerrigan is 21st in the conference, while Watt ranks 47th.
“I probably went up against him once or twice, maybe,” said John Moffitt, referring to Kerrigan. “Obviously he’s very strong, and he’s got a little bit of speed to him, too. He’s not just a bull rush guy. He’s a good player, he plays hard and that’s evident when you watch him on film for sure.”
Against the Badgers, the top performer among Heyward, Clayborn and Kerrigan last season was Kerrigan, who had a game-high nine tackles, 2.5 for loss and 1.5 sacks.
In his last two games against UW, Clayborn has 11 tackles, three for loss, and two sacks. For Heyward, the last two battles against Wisconsin have yielded nine tackles, 2.5 for loss and one sack.
Having faced all three, how does Gabe Carimi assess their abilites?
“I’d say Heyward is more of a bull [rusher], Clayborn would be a speed and bull guy, and Kerrigan is a motor guy,” Carimi said. “He’ll keep driving his legs, moving around, ripping under and twisting his body. I think he gives unbelievable effort on film and that’s why I think he might be a better defensive end.”
Having come away with victories over the Buckeyes and Hawkeyes this season, while limiting Heyward and Clayborn along the way, the Badgers now turn their focus toward Kerrigan and the Boilermakers.
While they certainly respect Kerrigan and consider him among the conference’s elite, the Wisconsin offensive line has plenty of reason to believe they’ll come out on top when they head to West Lafayette, Ind., for Saturday’s contest.
“I know he’s a great defensive end, and I think he is the best in the conference,” Carimi said. “But I’m coming in there with a little bit of confidence and trying to pull out a solid performance against him.”nd, ripping under and twisting his body. I think he gives unbelievable effort on film and that’s why I think he might be a better defensive end.”
Having come away with victories over the Buckeyes and Hawkeyes this season, while limiting Heyward and Clayborn along the way, the Badgers now turn their focus toward Kerrigan and the Boilermakers.
While they certainly respect Kerrigan and consider him among the conference’s elite, the Wisconsin offensive line has plenty of reason to believe they’ll come out on top when they head to West Lafayette, Ind., for Saturday’s contest.
“I know he’s a great defensive end, and I think he is the best in the conference,” Carimi said. “But I’m coming in there with a little bit of confidence and trying to pull out a solid performance against him.”
Replacements, bold moves key in victory at Iowa
IOWA CITY — When talking about his football team, Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema likes to say that it’s not what happens, but how you react to what happens. You can’t react much better than the Badgers did Saturday at Kinnick Stadium.
Two days before a pivotal Big Ten matchup with Iowa on the road, Bielema alluded to a number of veteran players that might not be able to go against the Hawkeyes. Come game time, Bielema and the Badgers found themselves without two key players: Nick Toon and Jordan Kohout.
“Brian [Lucas] hit me up early this morning and wanted to confirm the starting lineups, and I basically said ‘I wish I knew,'” Bielema said. “There was as much as seven of our starters that weren’t sure who was going to play or go or not.”
As the game wore on, Wisconsin lost Lance Kendricks, Peter Konz and James White to injury, while John Clay and Mike Taylor battled injuries at various moments in the game.
Even with all of that, the 10th-ranked Badgers came away with a 31-30 victory over the 12th-ranked Hawkeyes, putting themselves in excellent position in the Big Ten title race in the process.
“Iowa is a great team, and they had a great defensive four up front,” Gabe Carimi said. “We came out there and attacked it and got a ‘W’.”
With Kendricks out, tight ends Jacob Pedersen and Jake Byrne stepped up, grabbing four balls for a combined 42 yards. In place of Konz, the Badgers shuffled the offensive line without missing a beat, moving Bill Nagy from tight end to center.
But at no position was there a more impressive replacement than in the backfield.
Relegated to third on the depth chart with the emergence of White, sophomore Montee Ball‘s opportunities have been few and far between this season. But when called upon in a big moment, Ball reacted better than anyone could have expected.
“I stay ready and kept my mind right,” Ball said. “I’m very proud. I had a talk with [running backs] coach [John] Settle, and I told him that I was going to leave it in God’s hands. God has a plan for me and I just felt like it happened today.”
Carrying the ball three times, Ball picked up 18 crucial yards on the ground in the game. More importantly, he broke the plane of the goal line just enough for the game-tying touchdown late in the fourth quarter.
With the effort of those called upon to step up in critical situations, the Badgers were able to play the game the way they wanted to, which included a number of bold moves by the head coach.
Trailing 13-10 and facing 4th-and-1 on the Hawkeyes’ 2-yard line in the third quarter, the Badgers opted against the game-tying field goal. Instead, they went for it, and one of two Clay touchdown runs put them back on top, 17-13.
Later in the game, with UW trailing 30-24 late in the fourth quarter, Wisconsin got the look they were hoping to see from the Iowa defense on fourth down. The fake punt call was on, and punter Brad Nortman rushed for 17 yards, sending the momentum in the Badgers’ favor.
“It really did work out perfect,” Nortman said. “Our guys sold it perfectly and I went just about until I was about to drop the ball and it just all worked out perfectly. Once I saw it, I just knew we had the perfect play.”
Between the big games by replacements and bold moves in their play calling, the Badgers put together the most important reaction of the day. Following a program-defining victory over No. 1 Ohio State a week earlier, Wisconsin responded with another major win on the road over a Big Ten opponent.
Good teams pull off upsets at home, but it takes a great team to knock off a formidable opponent on the road.
“It was just four quarters of fanatical effort,” Bielema said. “Great individual efforts by some of our guys, but yet, unit efforts. Whether it be offense, defense or special teams, guys really had a tremendous amount of faith and executed.”
Clay, Bielema focused on offensive line before OSU
MADISON — Standing behind John Clay with his helmet off Saturday, you’d see the following numbers in his head: 68, 74, 66, 70 and 58. Lining up in the Wisconsin backfield, Clay sees the same set of numbers every time he takes the ball.
It took Clay about 20 minutes of work in the barbershop to show his appreciation for what his teammates do. Within the game’s first five minutes, Clay was thanking them again.
Clay burst through a big hole created by the Wisconsin offensive line and rushed 14 yards for the touchdown. Less than 12 minutes of game time later, Clay found the end zone again. As the Badgers led 21-0 over the No. 1 team in the nation, hard work by Clay and the offensive line paid off in a big way.
“He practiced as hard as I’ve ever seen him practice and really executed ball security, and he gave the tribute to the five offensive linemen, shaving their numbers in his head,” UW head coach Bret Bielema said of Clay. “It was a way of John saying, ‘I respect what you guys have done.’ His success is a lot about what they do, so again, just a good example of team chemistry.”
Wisconsin’s offensive line guided Clay to 104 yards rushing on 21 carries, as well as those two first half touchdowns.
Afterward, as he does after every game, Clay credited his success to the hard work up front by Peter Konz, John Moffitt, Gabe Carimi, Kevin Zeitler and Ricky Wagner.
“I just told them they’ve been working hard for me all week and this whole year, so I told them I’d do something special when the big game came,” Clay said. “It worked out in a good way.”
With the Badgers facing one of the toughest defensive lines in the country in Ohio State, Clay was not the only one focused on the offensive line this week.
Knowing the battle in the trenches could very easily determine the outcome of the game against the top-ranked Buckeyes, the head coach looked to give his front five a little added motivation.
“I did challenge them,” Bielema said. “I don’t do that very often as a head coach. I don’t want to set kids up for failure. If I do something like that, it’s usually that I have a really strong belief that it’s going to come through.
“Everybody made a big deal about the 29 games that Ohio State had played without a 100-yard rusher. I threw it in those guys’ faces all week. I threw it at our running backs, but it all starts up front for us. For us to have success, we have to play well at the offensive line.”
Konz, Moffitt, Carimi, Zeitler and Wagner answered the challenge in a big way. Not only did they pave the way for Clay to become the first opposing player in 30 games to rush for 100 yards or more against OSU, they also kept their quarterback upright.
Attempting 16 passes on the day, Scott Tolzien was not sacked a single time. But did the offensive line need to challenged?
“I don’t know. I mean, that’s a good question,” Moffitt answered. “We play our game and we always try to play our game. Obviously, when the head coach calls you out, you just have to raise the bar, and I think that’s what we did.
“It feels great. We did the right things and we won the game.”
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