Noah Burks

Paul Chryst

It wasn’t looking good early for the Wisconsin Badgers, who fell behind Wake Forest 14-0 in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl on Wednesday in Charlotte. The Badgers had two empty possessions, while the Demon Deacons put two scores on the board just 7:39 into the game.

The Badgers (4-3) settled down from there and scored 14 points in each of the next three quarters to go on and beat Wake Forest 42-28.

Wake Forest quarterback Sam Hartman had thrown just one interception coming into the game, but he threw four picks against the Badgers, who finished the season with a two-game winning streak. The Badgers got interceptions from Noah Burks, Scott Nelson, Jack Sanborn and Collin Wilder. Sanborn finished with 10 tackles, two tackles for loss and the pick.

Wisconsin improved to 5-1 in bowl games under coach Paul Chryst. The 42-points scored is the highest scoring output for the Badgers in a bowl game, surpassing the previous record of 38 against Utah in the 1996 Copper Bowl.

The Badgers improved to 17-15 in bowl games overall and have won 6 of their last 7 bowls, dating back to the 2014 season.

Quarterback Graham Mertz finished 11 of 17 for 130 yards and a touchdown. He also scored on a pair of 1-yard runs.

Hartman finished 20 of 37 for 318 yards and three touchdowns for Wake Forest (4-5).

Four the first half of the Big Ten Championship game, the Wisconsin Badgers were in control, on the verge of pulling off one of the biggest upsets in college football history. The Badgers led 21-7 at halftime.

Everyone knew Ryan Day’s Buckeyes would make a second half run. The question was, would the Badgers be able to withstand that run?

The answer to that question was a resounding “NO”.

The Buckeyes wiped out a 14-point halftime deficit and scored 24 second half points, pulling out a 34-21 victory to win the Big Ten title.

The Badgers racked up 294 yards in the first half, averaging 8.7 yards per play. Jonathan Taylor rushed 13 times for 145 yards and a touchdown in the opening half.

Taylor became the seventh FBS player to surpass the 6,000 yard-yard mark but was held to 13 yards on seven carries in the second half. [Read more…]