Today we traveled to Camp Randall Stadium for a Halloween edition of college football, as the Wisconsin Badgers hosted the Scarlet Knights of Rutgers University. While many predicted Wisconsin to take home the W for their home crowd, almost no one predicted the margin of victory. This one was all Wisconsin, all the way, as the Badgers came out on top, 48-10. Read our game recaphere and check out our photos of Wisconsin’s Big 10 victory below.
So in the end, it turned out to be a total of seven weeks of recovery time for Wisconsin Badgers star running back Corey Clement. Clement returned Saturday in Madtown, giving the Badgers a huge emotional lift, as well as a pretty impact lift on the field, with Wisconsin running away with the game by halftime. The Badgers would crush the Rutgers Scarlett Knights on this day, 48-10.
Wisconsin would receive the game’s opening kickoff and turn it into three. Rafael Gaglianone converted from 49 yards out. It was a big conversion for the up-and-down Gaglianone as it seemed to springboard the Badgers for the rest of the day.
After Rutgers would punt on their first possession of the game, Wisconsin would take over where they quickly produced the game’s first touchdown. A two yard Clement run, followed by a 27 yard pass play from Joel Stave to Alex Erickson set up the Badgers at the Rutgers 12. Corey Clement would rumble into the end zone on the next play, making it 10-0 Badgers on Clement’s first touchdown of the season.
The Scarlett Knights would get on the board on their second drive. A 21 yard field goal by Kyle Federico would be all Rutgers could muster versus the Badgers defense in the first half.
The Badgers would convert two more touchdowns. Stave connected with Erickson from 31 yards out on a beautiful crossing pattern over the middle. Later, Corey Clement would break away from 21 yards out, making it 24-3 Badgers with 3:30 left in the first half.
Gaglianone capped the first half scoring with a 27 yard field goal after the Badgers marched down the field on an 8 play 61 yard drive in the final 44 seconds.
Wisconsin would out-throw Rutgers in the first half, 156 yards to 25, with the Badgers finishing the game 217 yards to Rutgers 82.
Wisconsin continued to pile on in the second half behind Clement, Stave, and company, blowing away a Rutgers team that many thought would put up a much tougher fight.
Badgers quarter back Joel Stave, who head coach Paul Chryst assured was the undisputed starter this week, had another good effort for Wisconsin. The senior finished the game 13/25 with 217 yards passing. His only real hiccup came on a pick-six midway through the second half, finishing with two interceptions and one touchdown.
To say running back Corey Clement provided the Badgers offense a spark would be putting it mildly. Clement ran for 115 yards and three touchdowns, putting several exclamation points on his Halloween return to the Badgers offense.
“It was good to get him going,” said head coach Paul Chryst. “I think he uplifted the team some …”
Tanner McEvoy and Dare Ogunbowale combined for 70 yards rushing, complimenting the big time return of Clement. McEvoy, who does a little bit of everything for Wisconsin, also added an interception on the day.
Missing stud wide receiver Robert Wheelwright, Alex Erickson again was relied on heavily by Stave and the Badgers. Erickson finished the day with 103 yards on 6 receptions.
The Scarlett Knights quarterback Chris Laviano was a complete non-factor in the game.
Wisconsin held the Big Ten’s completion percentage leader to just 4/14 for a miserable 31 yards passing.
The Badgers piled up 426 yards of total offense to Rutgers 165. The Badgers actually lost the time of possession 32:00 to 28:00 thanks to scoring so quickly and efficiently all day long versus an overmatched, exhausted Rutgers defense.
The Badgers will travel to Maryland next week where they will face a struggling Terrapins (2-5) team, hoping to continue to take care of business as they wait for Iowa to slip up. The Badgers can’t just wait for that to happen. They have to keep taking it one game at a time, just as they’ve been doing. The game kicks off at 2:30 pm Central.
The banged-up Wisconsin Badgers (6-2) will welcome the Rutgers Scarlet Knights (3-3) to Camp Randall Stadium this Saturday for a morning matchup. Suffering from a seemingly never-ending rash of injuries, the Badgers will try to fend off a competitive Rutgers team hungry for a statement win.
Rutgers has a tough two game swing starting this weekend in Madison, and next week where they’ll travel to the Big House to face a big time Michigan team. They know it won’t be easy, and they don’t expect it to be.
“It’s not supposed to be easy. I don’t want it to be easy,” Rutgers linebacker Steve Longa said. “I want to see how I measure against the best out there and that’s what it’s about.”
The Badgers injuries have not since stopped since star running back Corey Clement went down after the Alabama game. The latest victim was center Badgers center Dan Voltz who some say is the best player on this talented Wisconsin offensive line.
The Badgers will also be without one of their top receiving weapons in Robert Wheelwright. The junior will miss several weeks after the injury that knocked him out of last week’s game against Illinois.
Senior quarterback Joel Stave, who missed the final three quarters of the Badgers win at Illinois last week, went through and passed all the concussion protocol this week. He will be the starter Saturday, despite a surprisingly effective day for backup Bart Houston a week ago.
Stave, who has been steady, will be a key cog Saturday for a Badgers team having to throw it a lot more than in recent seasons. Corey Clement remains questionable for the game.
The Badgers have averaged only 152.5 yards rushing per game this year. That’s good enough for just 11th in the 14-team Big Ten.
The Badgers, who are now Bowl eligible, know that all teams deal with injuries and that no one is going to feel sorry for them. Just ask head coach Paul Chryst.
“We’re not the only team in the country. But we’ve had our fair share,” said Chryst. “They just keep plugging away. I give our players a lot of credit.”
The Badgers will have to contain Rutgers quarterback Chris Laviano who despite struggling of late, leads the Big Ten in completion percentage (67.2%).
The best running back talent this Saturday may come in the form of the Badgers opponent, something that is not usually a concern for Wisconsin. Rutgers tailback Paul James has averaged a spectacular 9.6 yards per carry over his team’s last three games. James, who tore his ACL last year, has indeed made a full recovery and will be one of the toughest challenges for this outstanding Wisconsin run defense.
The Badgers rank eighth in the entire nation in run defense, giving up just 97.3 yards per game. And if you take away the thrashing that came at the hands of Alabama, the Badgers are giving up a paltry 77 yards per game.
Third down efficiency has been the focus of late for the Badgers and they will need to continue their solid conversion rate to come away with another win Saturday. The Badgers have converted 53 percent of their third downs over the last two games; this after converting on just 39 percent over their first six.
Prediction:Wisconsin 17, Rutgers 10
Game time: Saturday, October 31, 11:00 AM CT on BTN, BTN2; Camp Randall Stadium, Madison, WI
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