Wisconsin News and Sports
Joel Stave
Joel Stave will take another shot at the National Football League, this time with the Cleveland Browns.
Stave, who played at Wisconsin from 2012 through 2015, signed with the Browns on Monday.
Stave started 41 games at Wisconsin, finishing with a 31-10 record. He passed for 7,635 yards and 48 touchdowns, both ranking him number-two in program history.
The Whitnall High School product signed with the Minnesota Vikings in 2016 as an undrafted free agent.
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…]
The Wisconsin Badgers shoot for their fifth straight Big Ten win this afternoon when they take on the Maryland Terrapins in college football action in College Park, Maryland.
The Badgers said this week that they’re looking to increase the number of take/aways they get and they should have a chance to act on it against Maryland. The Terrapins 28 turnovers in eight games is the worst mark in the country.
Maryland has thrown 23 interceptions, compared to Wisconsin’s six.
The Badgers go in with just six interceptions on the season.
The Badgers special teams coverage units will be challenged. Maryland’s William Likely has three return touchdowns, two on punt returns and one via a kickoff return. Likely ranks fourth nationally on punt returns and 29th on kickoff returns. [Read more…]
Bart Houston
Bart Houston had only thrown nine passes all year. But when starting quarterback Joel Stave left the game with a head injury, Houston answered the call.
Houston threw for 232 yards and two touchdowns to lead the Wisconsin Badgers (6-2, 3-1) to a 24-13 win over Illinois.
Houston hit Alex Erickson with a nine-yard touchdown pass in the fourth quarter to give the Badgers a two score cushion and put the game out of reach.
Erickson had a big day, catching ten passes for 96 yards and rushing four times for another 81 yards.
Robert Wheelwright caught Houston’s first touchdown passes in the second quarter.
Alec Ingold scored again for the Badgers, a two-yard touchdown run.
Wisconsin will host Rutgers this coming Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium.
T.J. Edwards (Photo by David Stluka).
The Big Ten’s weakest rushing defense held Wisconsin to just 99 rushing yards, but Badger running backs still produced three touchdowns in a 24-7 win over the Purdue Boilermakers on Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium.
Senior quarterback Joel Stave hit 30-of-39 passes for 322 yards, but it was the Wisconsin defense that carried the day.
The Boilermakers (1-6, 0-3) couldn’t get anything going. They were held to season lows in rushing yards with 55 and total yards with 191.
Freshman Alec Ingold ran for two touchdowns and Dare Ogunbowale was the game’s top rusher with 56 yards on 18 carries and a touchdown.
Linebacker T.J. Edwards led the defense with 16 tackles and a fumble recovery.
The Badgers (5-2, 2-1) travels to Illinois this Saturday to face the Illini.
Dare Ogunbowale
The Wisconsin Badgers (4-2, 1-1 Big Ten) turn their attention to this Saturday’s home game against the Purdue Boilermakers, after their thrilling 23-21 come-from-behind win at Nebraska on Saturday.
Rafael Gaglianone booted a 46-yard field goal with four seconds left and sent the Cornhuskers to 0-2 in the Big Ten and 2-4 overall for the first time since 1959.
The Badgers offense struggled in the first three quarters, then put up 221 yards (132 passing and 89 rushing) in the fourth quarter. Running back Dare Ogunbowale rushed 12 times for 83 yards in that final frame.
Purdue (1-5, 0-2) comes to Camp Randall on Saturday coming off a 41-13 home loss to the Minnesota Golden Gophers. Purdue gave up 326 rushing yards and 408 total yards to a Minnesota offense that had struggled coming in.
In two-plus seasons under coach Darrell Hazell, Purdue is 1-17 in the Big Ten and 5-25 overall.
The Badgers should be heavy favorites at home on Saturday their hopes of securing the Big Ten’s West Division title are still alive.
Tanner McEvoy
Two-way player Tanner McEvoy’s 32-yard touchdown run in the third quarter helped the Wisconsin Badgers pull away from a stubborn Troy University team 28-3 on Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium.
Two Wisconsin defenders, linebacker Leon Jacobs and defensive back Derrick Tindal, were ejected in the game for targeting.
The Badgers led just 14-3 at halftime.
Senior quarterback Joel Stave threw for one touchdown and passed for another. He finished 13-of-17 for 202 yards.
Dare Ogunbowale had Wisconsin’s other touchdown. The ground attack was improved, but still fell short of 200 yards.
Defensively, the Badgers continued to be stingy. For the second straight game, the Badgers failed to give up a touchdown.
The game was delayed after a heat detector near a pizza oven set off the fire alarm with about nine minutes left to play in the game.
The Badgers improved to 2-1 and will host Hawaii next Saturday night at Camp Randall.
Joel Stave
The Wisconsin Badgers dropped their season opener 35-17 to Alabama in Arlington, Texas on Saturday night. Today, the Badgers have so put the pieces together and get ready for their home opener against Miami of Ohio on Saturday morning at Camp Randall Stadium.
The Badgers are hoping to get their injured players back soon. Safety Michael Caputo suffered a head injury on the fourth play of the game. Tailback Corey Clement had suffered a groin injury Tuesday, was limited to eight carries for 16 yards before leaving for good. Inside linebacker Leon Jacobs, who dislocated the big toe on his right foot in camp, struggled and was eventually taken out in the second half.
Tanner McEvoy also made little impact in Saturday’s game. He’s still recovering from a strained left hamstring.
Badger coach Paul Chryst said, “There’s some areas that clearly we’ve got to improve upon for us to be the team that we want to be. I think we’re going to look at the film and see some areas where I think we can build on.”
It’s too soon to determine whether or not Caputo, Clement and Jacobs will be ready to face Miami on Saturday.
Wisconsin quarterback Joel Stave played well, completing 26 of 39 passes for 228 yards and two touchdowns. But it was expected the Badgers offensive line would have trouble with Alabama’s front seven and that was clearly the case. The Badgers normally potent running game, managed just 40 yards on 21 carries.
Dave Aranda
The Wisconsin Badgers ranked 10th in the Big Ten and 114th out of 128 FBS schools in defensive takeaways last season. Despite that fact, they still managed to win eleven games.
Getting more takeaways has been a big emphasis for defensive coordinator Dave Aranda and his players all offseason.
The Badgers secondary intercepted just four passes last season and the team had just six overall, which is better than only six FBS teams. The goal is to get more hands on footballs and then hang on to the ball when the first part of the goal is accomplished.
More interceptions and takeaways for the defense means better field position for Joel Stave and the Wisconsin offense to work with. It’s no secret that turnovers generally lead to more points.
Last season, the Badgers forced a total of 17 turnovers. We’ll see tonight, when the Badgers open their season against 3rd-ranked [Read more…]
Paul Chryst
As the Wisconsin Badgers get ready for their season opener against 3rd-ranked Alabama in eight days in Arlington, Texas, the teams injury list is getting smaller.
Redshirt sophomore Hayden Biegel, who opened camp as the No. 1 right tackle, had been out since August 14 after suffering a concussion. Biegel was in full pads on Thursday, although he wore a yellow no-contact jersey.
Badger coach Paul Chryst said Biegel is among several players who could be ready to face Alabama and he’s not ruling Biegel out as a starter.
Joel Stave, 21-7 as a starter, has been top quarterback from the day camp opened. Redshirt junior Bart Houston won the battle in training camp to be his backup, out-performing D.J. Gillins for the job.