Wisconsin Football: Badgers get back on track in win against Rutgers

Wisconsin football rebounded with a win against Rutgers to stay in the Big Ten West hunt. How did the Badgers perform on Saturday?

Wisconsin has been reeling of late, especially coming off a stunning, albeit a surprising loss to Northwestern last week. Luckily, they matched up with Rutgers, the worst team in the Big Ten East with a 1-7 record.

The Badgers, however, seemed to return to their former self as they rolled over Rutgers in a 31-17 victory. Wisconsin owned and controlled the game from start to finish.

One facet of the game that always persists in the Wisconsin offense is the Badgers running the football. This ground-and-pound, power style of football has become a trademark of this offense and that was on display against Rutgers on Saturday.

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The Badgers didn’t even attempt a single pass in the third quarter, leaning on the brute strength of its running back corps. Overall, Wisconsin dominated the run, totaling  317 rushing yards in the game while averaging more than seven yards per carry.

Wisconsin exposed the Scarlet Knights’ vulnerabilities on defense all game. On the first drive of the game, Wisconsin stormed down the field in 2:53 for the first score of the game. The drive only lasted six plays and went 65 yards.

New Jersey native Jonathan Taylor punched in the touchdown run on that drive along with a second touchdown in the third quarter. By game’s end, Taylor crossed the end zone three times and amassed 208 yards.

Despite their lapse in team defense, cornerback Saquon Hampton was all over the place for the Scarlet Knights. he picked off Alex Hornibrook –– who was back from a concussion injury –– in the first quarter.

Eventually, Hampton got another opportunity and with the Scarlet Knights in a 10-0 hole, he picked off Hornibrook near the sideline for the second time in the first half.

This helped give Rutgers some sort of momentum heading into the locker room and it was the first time a Rutgers player recorded two interceptions in a game since 2012.

A constant in the Rutgers offense is that the Scarlet Knights have struggled to manufacture offense from the passing game –– or many points for that matter.

The first chance Rutgers really had to score was a field goal that was blocked with about five minutes left in the first half. It did, however, score a touchdown in the red zone in the fourth quarter.

Going into the matchup with Wisconsin, true freshman starting quarterback Artur Sitkowski had a 3:15 passing touchdown to interception ratio while completing just half of his passes.

The Badgers responded to this by testing the young signal caller by relentlessly attacking and putting pressure on him through a blitz. Sitkowski was noticeably knocked around a few times.

This seemed to be an effective strategy for the Badgers as Rutgers scored just one touchdown through the air –– although it didn’t mean much as it came with a little over a minute to go in the game with Rutgers still down by two scores.

Even with the in-conference win, the Badgers still have an uphill climb to chase down if they want to find themselves atop the West division.

The Northwestern loss stung but Wisconsin also has two crucial matchups ahead with games against Penn State and Purdue in the next two weeks.

The Badgers need some help from Northwestern, who must lose two of its next three for Wisconsin to contend for the West division. The Badgers also must win out.

That being said, the Badgers are still in the race for the West division and for the Big Ten conference overall, but the road will be much bumpier than once anticipated.