Wisconsin-Ohio State: Badgers Fall Flat At Home
October 5, 2008
After a head-scratching loss to the Michigan Wolverines in Ann Arbor last week, the Wisconsin Badgers lost another close one in the Big Ten to “Thee” Ohio State University 20-17.
The Buckeyes scored first and scored quickly when Chris “Beanie” Wells scampered in from 33 yards out, and it looked like a blowout early in front of the Badger faithful.
The Wisconsin offense looked out of sync in the first quarter, as two of their three drives in that frame ended in punts, with the other ending as a result of a fumble by quarterback Allan Evridge.
In a 7-0 hole starting the second quarter, the Badger offense came alive as they scored 10 points to Ohio State’s zero.
The Buckeyes punted early in the second and Wisconsin reeled off a 15 play, 91-yard drive which spanned over eight minutes, and resulted in an Evridge touchdown pass to tight end Mickey Turner.
Wisconsin played tough defense and got the ball back in their possession. Then Philip Welsh tacked on a 20-yard field goal as the half expired.
After the Michigan debacle, Bret Bielema is now 19-1 when leading at the half, but that too would be no more after this week.
The Badgers had the ball three times in the third quarter, but all three resulted in punts.
Ohio State got a field goal for the only scoring in the third quarter and left the game tied 10-10 as Badger fans “jumped around.”
The Wisconsin defense played well; the only problem was it was only for the first 54 minutes of the game as the Buckeyes won the game on a 12-play, 80-yard yard drive that lasted over five minutes.
Freshman phenom Terrelle Pryor scored the game-winning touchdown on 11-yard quarterback keeper from the option with just over a minute left in the game. He’s quickly showing why he was the nation’s top recruit coming into 2008.
The Badgers had one last shot, but it was all squandered when Evridge threw an interception to secure the Buckeye victory.
Wisconsin’s 16-game home-winning streak was snapped, and All-American tight end Travis Beckum only caught six passes, most of which came in the second quarter.
Beanie Wells finished with 168 yards on 22 carries. As Dan Patrick would say, “You can’t stop him, you can only hope to contain him.” Well, the Badgers didn’t stop him; they didn’t even contain him.
The 3-2 Badgers will play host to undefeated Penn State (6-0) in yet another prime-time match-up at Camp Randall next week.
Wisconsin will yet again try to just contain an explosive offense, because there’s no way they are going to stop the Nittany Lions.
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