Alex Hornibrook
Wisconsin’s beat up defense held its own for a while on Saturday night, but the offense played one of its worst games in recent memory as the Badgers fell to the Michigan Wolverines 38-13 in Ann Arbor, Michigan.
The Wisconsin defense started the game without starting defensive end Isaiahh Loudermilk (ankle injury). Starting safety couldn’t go after testing his injured leg in pregame warm-ups. The other starting safety, Scott Nelson, had to sit the first half after an ejection in the second half last week for targeting. He returned but quickly left in the third quarter with a left leg injury. Starting corner Faion Hicks was declared out early with a leg injury.
Despite all of those defensive injury issues, the Badgers played tough against the Wolverines, keeping the game close before eventually wearing down late in the game.
The Badgers got an early touchdown when Kendric Pryor scored on a 33-yard jet sweep early in the second quarter.
The Badgers ground game was good early. Jonathan Taylor had 79 yards on 11 carries in the first half, but he would get just 22 more yards on the ground in the second half, finishing with 101 yards on 17 carries.
Quarterback Alex Hornibrook finished 7 of 20 for 100 yards and two interceptions. His first completion of the second half came with five minutes left in the game. The Badgers finally added a second touchdown when Hornibrook found A.J. Taylor on a three-yard touchdown connection with 3:47 to play.
The Badgers lost the time of possession statistic 37:01 to 22:59 and finished just 2 of 11 on third downs.
Wisconsin dropped to 4-2 overall, 2-1 in the Big Ten. They’ll return to Madison to host Illinois this Saturday at Camp Randall.
Badgers drop in AP Poll
With Saturday’s loss, the Badgers dropped eight spots from 15th to 23rd in the A.P. Top 25 College Football Poll. The Badgers started the season ranked number-4.
Michigan secured its best ranking of the season, climbing to sixth.