Wisconsin denies claims of conditioning problems
October 1, 2008
Posted by ESPN.com’s Adam Rittenberg
After Michigan completed the biggest comeback in Michigan Stadium history, several Wolverines players pointed to conditioning as the difference in the game.
Michigan revved up its play from late in the third quarter on, while Wisconsin seemed to wear down in a 27-25 loss.
“That’s something we always said when we got to the sideline, ‘Keep it up, keep it up, keep it up. Keep that intensity and they’re going to wear down,’” said Wolverines defensive end Brandon Graham, who had three sacks and two forced fumbles in the game. “And eventually, they wore down. Just the way the pass rush and the run block was, there was no type of lean, no type of push like it was in the first half.”
Wisconsin had only 47 rushing yards after halftime and seemed to lose its edge on defense, but head coach Bret Bielema and his team didn’t sense any exhaustion creeping in.
“We could have played another quarter if we wanted to,” Bielema said. “Michigan’s a good football team that’s in shape and our football team, over the test of time, has been very good finishing. But the powers that be and the things that happened, obviously we weren’t able to do that.
“Those are great things to write, but the reality of the situation is we didn’t execute on offense and defense.”
Wisconsin entered last week having outscored opponents 58-17 in the second half. Last season, the Badgers held a 190-130 edge in second-half scoring.
“I don’t feel like was a conditioning thing at all,” Badgers running back P.J. Hill said of the Michigan loss. “None of us were really tired.”
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