Holiday Bowl

Badgers celebrate Holiday Bowl victory (AUDIO)

December 31, 2015 By Bill Scott

Jack Cichy

After suffering an apparent broken nose from a kick to the face, Wisconsin quarterback Joel Stave returned to the field to lead the Badgers on a game-winning drive that ended with Rafael Gaglianone’s 29-yard go-ahead field goal. The Badgers held on to knock off the U-S-C Trojans 23-21 to capture the Holiday Bowl. It’s the first win for the Badgers over U-S-C, in this, their seventh meeting.

Stave had two 17-yard completions on the final drive. He finished with 217 yards and a touchdown and was named the games offensive MVP.

The Defensive MVP honors went to linebacker Jack Cichy. He had to sit out the first half because of a targeting penalty in Wisconsin’s final regular season game. Cichy was dominant when he finally hit the field. [Read more…]

Badger defense gets another chance to prove their worth

December 30, 2015 By Bill Scott

Joe Schobert

The Wisconsin Badgers success in the Holiday Bowl tonight will defend on a number of factors, perhaps none bigger than their defensive performance against the USC Trojans tonight in San Diego.

Wisconsin enters tonight’s game ranked No. 1 in the nation in points allowed (13.1 ppg), No. 3 in total yards allowed (267.1 ypg), No. 4 in rushing yards allowed (97.9 ypg) and No. 6 in passing yards allowed (169.2 ypg).

What the Badgers haven’t seen is a lot of quality opponents on their schedule. They’ve faced just three teams ranked in the top 50 nationally in points per game before the start of the bowl season.

The Badger defense will face a USC offense that has 24 rushing touchdowns and 29 passing touchdowns this season.

The Trojans are led by quarterback Cody Kessler, but they have struggled in protecting him. Wisconsin’s top pass rushers, Joe Schobert (9 1/2 sacks) and Vince Biegel (8 sacks) have formed the nations top linebacker pass rushing duo. It’ll be up to them to keep Kessler from getting comfortable in the pocket.

The Badgers have never beaten the Trojans. They enter tonight’s Holiday Bowl matchup with an 0-6 mark in this series. The Badges also haven’t beaten a team with a winning record this season.

Kickoff time tonight is set for 9:30 p.m. CT.

Badgers to face USC in Holiday Bowl (AUDIO)

December 7, 2015 By Bill Scott

Paul Chryst

As expected, the Wisconsin Badgers have accepted an invitation to play in the December 30th Holiday Bowl in San Diego. It comes after a week of speculation that the Badgers were headed for the Holiday Bowl but would face Utah.

Kickoff is set for 9:30 p.m. CT and the game will be televised by ESPN.

The Trojans, who suffered a 41-22 loss to No. 7 Stanford on Saturday night in the PAC-12 title game, will enter the game unranked. The Badgers meanwhile, moved up two spots on Sunday to number-23 in the AP and coaches Top-25 polls.

USC opened the season ranked 8th in the AP poll and 10th in the coaches poll. They dropped out of the top 25 after falling to Washington on Oct. 8.

It was just a few days later that head coach Steve Sarkisian was fired. Assistant Clay Helton was named interim head coach and eventually handed the head coaching reigns after leading the Trojans to a 5-2 mark in the last seven games.

The two schools have met six times previously, including twice in the Rose Bowl. USC has won all six meetings.

AUDIO: Paul Chryst says playing a traditional power like USC is exciting :17

AUDIO: Chryst says it’s OK that it isn’t a New Years Day bowl game :13