In many ways, Wisconsin’s win over Miami (OH) was like a party for the Badgers. There was dancing on the sidelines and in the stands, there was shuffling on the field and it was a coming out for a number of rising players. Wisconsin got its groove on early, and boogied their way to a 58-0 victory.
Things started slowly for the Badgers’ offense. It couldn’t finish its drives in the first quarter, settling for two field goals and two punts until redshirt senior receiver Alex Erickson got the party going with a 35-yard punt return that started the Badgers’ drive in Miami’s red zone.
Redshirt senior quarterback Joel Stave connected with junior wide receiver Robert Wheelwright three plays later to give the Wisconsin its first of seven touchdowns on the day. Stave found redshirt senior tight end Austin Traylor in the end zone on their next drive, before hooking up with Wheelwright once again in the two-minute drill before the end of the half.
“Anywhere on the field, it’s great to see guys going up and competing for the ball,” Stave said after the game. “I thought Rob [Wheelwright] and Austin [Traylor] did a really nice job on those couple that they had a chance on in the end zone.”
Both touchdowns to Wheelwright were the exact same play call by the offense and the same coverage by the defense. The receiver was lined up alone on the left side against press-man coverage with a single deep safety, and he ran corner routes that Stave put on his outside shoulder for a pair of nice plays.
“You’re just kind of keying the safeties,” Stave explained. “If you feel you’ve got a good one-on-one on the backside, you can take it. It was very similar reads both times.”
With a 37-0 lead going into halftime, the party was starting to get going on the sidelines. With less than six minutes left in the third quarter, the Badgers began taking their starters out, and it was the Bart Houston show for the rest of the game.
It’s easy to praise the offense for their big scoring output, but the performance by the defense cannot be overlooked. They kept the RedHawks off the scoreboard for the entire game, the first UW shutout since their win over Rutgers last season.
“I think we’re starting to find that Wisconsin Badger defensive identity,” redshirt junior outside linebacker Vince Biegel said. “From a defense standpoint, we cleaned up a lot of mental errors, which was the biggest thing approaching this weekend.”
The Badgers did a lot of shifting on the defense, even before they took the starters out. In their nickel package, they kept sophomore cornerback Derrick Tindal on the outside, rotating in redshirt seniors Darius Hillary and Michael Caputo in the slot. When Caputo moved up, redshirt junior Leo Musso came on the field to play deep opposite Tanner McEvoy. He made his presence made with two interceptions, and McEvoy added one of his own.
“Within the nickel spot and the safeties and the corners, we like to be interchangeable,” Caputo said. With players moving around, it made the reads more difficult for Miami quarterbacks Billy Bahl and Drew Kummer, and their combined three interceptions really stalled the RedHawks’ offense.
The good times came on all three phases for Wisconsin (1-1). The offense moved the ball and controlled the tempo, the defense shut down the Miami (1-1) offense, holding them to negative three rushing yards in the game and the special teams set the Badgers up with great field position. Wisconsin still had a football hangover from their loss to Alabama last week, but this party at Camp Randall left them feeling good once again.
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