Upon further review: Wisconsin vs. Georgia State
Days before Wisconsin hosted Georgia State, Badgers head coach Paul Chryst said it would be arrogant for a team to sit out a player based on its upcoming opponent.
The question revolved around running back Corey Clement and whether he'd suit up against the Panthers (who were a 35-point underdog) -- he didn't, and Chryst's comment took root as Wisconsin played as if it had a Saturday hangover, missing opportunities, dropping passes and generally playing, well, blech, before turning the offensive reins over to backup Alex Hornibrook.
Still, that wasn't a cure-all, as Wisconsin's defense had its worst game of the season, too, and UW allowed Georgia State to actually take a lead in the fourth quarter. But Hornibrook led the Badgers back and the defense stiffened at the end as ninth-ranked Wisconsin avoided a shocking upset at home, winning 23-17.
A recap of Saturday's game:
-- If you weren't sure after last year, Wisconsin needs Clement, who has now missed 10 of the Badgers' last 16 games. Taiwan Deal is not a breakaway runner. Dare Ogunbowale is a fine change-of-pace and third-down back, but is no bellcow. And Bradrick Shaw is still learning, as evidenced by his fumble. Those three combined for 42 carries for 161 yards, just a 3.83 average. Clement is second all-time in Wisconsin history in rush average at 6.3 yards per carry.
-- Let's talk the go-ahead touchdown mainly because it is one of my favorite plays. The tight end, in this case Kyle Penniston, offers a block for show -- mainly to get the defense to lay off him -- the quarterback, Alex Hornibrook here, fakes a handoff then throws to the tight end, who rolls off that block and into the end zone, usually uncovered. Hornibrook might have scrambled and waited to throw a little too long, but it was still a thing of beauty.
-- Deal had seven carries on Wisconsin's first 11 plays, but was hurt on his final rush, a 2-yard gain on 4th-and-1 from the Georgia State 31. He would not return.
-- Wisconsin didn't fool Georgia State on two 3rd-and-2 plays to the fullback in the first quarter. The first time, Austin Ramesh was stopped for 1 yard on an inside handoff (Deal then got the first on the play above). Then, on Wisconsin's next drive, Bart Houston tried a dump-off to Alec Ingold after a fake handoff from the 11, but it only got a yard and the Badgers then elected for a 28-yard Rafael Gaglianone field goal. The fullback dive, though, did clinch the game late in the fourth quarter when Ingold got 4 yards on 3rd-and-1 to ensure Georgia State wouldn't get the ball back.
-- The Badgers certainly had their chances to make this a blowout in the first half. First possession: Bart Houston tried to hit Penniston on a 3rd-and-4 but Georgia State safety Bobby Baker stepped in front and knocked away the pass (and Houston was perhaps lucky it wasn't picked off). Result: field goal. Second possession: stalled out on the Ingold pass. Result: Field goal. Third possession: Shaw fumbles at the goal line -- for some reason he tried to move the ball from one hand to the other -- with Georgia State recovering. Fourth possession: Badgers drive to the Panthers 38 but Penniston drops back-to-back passes. Wisconsin eventually punts from plus territory at the 38. Fifth possession: A good 2-minute drill as Wisconsin gets the ball with 40 seconds left at its own 33 and drives to the Georgia State 12. Result: Gaglianone missed a 30-yard field-goal attempt. And with that, Wisconsin led just 6-0 at the half. Could have been a lot worse. A lot.
-- Houston has a nice arm, no doubt. But he has a problem putting a touch on the ball. He missed Ogunbowale on a wheel route when getting some air under the ball would have been a completion, and later overthrew Jazz Peavy on a ball that could have used a little loft.
-- Hornibrook had a couple of nice passes to start his game -- he hit a wide-open Peavy on 3rd-and-10 for a 29-yard gain then hit George Rushing for 19. On Wisconsin's go-ahead drive in the fourth quarter, Hornibrook found Robert Wheelwright, placing the ball in a spot only the Badgers wide receiver could have caught it and fired one downfield to Penniston.
-- Georgia State couldn't run the ball against Wisconsin, but the Panthers sure could throw it. The Badgers hadn't allowed a pass of more than 35 yards in their first two games, but the Panthers had gains of 38, 40 and 60. The 60-yarder was on a slant and featured missed tackles by D'Cota Dixon and Sojourn Shelton; linebacker T.J. Edwards ended up running down the receiver at the 9. On Robert Davis' 13-yard TD catch, Derrick Tindal had no idea where the ball was. It was a long day for UW's secondary.
-- Wisconsin's defense did come up big on the final two possessions, with back-to-back three-and-outs. Vince Biegel had a nice (uncredited) quarterback hurry and Shelton knocked away a pass.
-- Found this interesting: Average yards per play for Wisconsin was 5.1. Georgia State? 5.6.
-- The Badgers had allowed 267 passing yards combined in their first two games. Georgia State's Conner Manning threw for 269 yards. Last year, UW had only one game where it allowed more passing yards than that -- 278 at Illinois.
-- Georgia State ran for just 33 yards on 24 carries, a 1.4 average. The Panthers' longest run was just 9 yards (done twice). Taking away sacks and a botched punt, lead back Kyler Neal still only had 41 yards on 15 carries (2.7 average).
-- Sometimes receivers bail out quarterbacks with great catches. However, it can work in reverse, too. Saturday, Hornibrook got an interception put on his record after George Rushing had a ball go right through his hands. Hey, it happens.
-- For whatever reason, Gaglianone has struggled between 30-39 yards on his field-goal attempts. Last year he made just 3 of 6 from that range.
-- Conor Sheehy had a nice block on a 45-yard field-goal attempt. He got low, broke through the line then raised his arms and got a piece of the ball on its way up.
-- P.J. Rosowski had five touchbacks on six kickoffs. His other one was booted to the corner of the field and returned only 7 yards.
-- In addition to Clement being out and Deal being lost to injury, tight end Troy Fumagalli also was injured after making a first-quarter catch and did not return. Chryst seemed to expect all three to play next week, but, then again, qualified it with a 'you never know' kind of comment.
All those positive vibes after two games are gone and a whole bunch of questions have arisen. But that's the week-to-week nature of football. Wisconsin played flat; do that against a good team, and the Badgers are in trouble. Of course, you might think they won't come out that way against better opponents. Hornibrook sure seemed like the real deal, handling himself under pressure and performing well in leading the UW to the win. Is he ready for the Big Ten, though? And what happened to that pass defense? How much did Corey Clement not being in the offense hurt? See, a lot of questions. Bottom line, it was a win, albeit not an impressive one. A loss would have been much, much worse. Just ask Iowa.
It's hard to give this to anyone else other than Hornibrook, even though he played less than a half. Wisconsin's situation certainly wasn't all Houston's fault as we noted above, but the Badgers did need something to give them some life. Hornibrook did just that. Hornibrook, who finished 8-of-12 passing for 122 yards and a touchdown, led Wisconsin on a TD drive in his first series (with those two big throws) and 17 points overall. The Badgers scored on three of Hornibrook's four "real" possessions (not counting running out the clock at the end). He didn't wilt, either, when Wisconsin got down and had to rally. Not too shabby for his first game action in something other than garbage time.
T.J. Edwards missed all of fall camp and couldn't even play in Wisconsin's season opener against LSU. Two weeks later, Edwards led the Badgers in tackles with 11 and also had a tackle for loss. Last year's UW leading tackler is indeed back. Also, kudos to Edwards' fellow inside linebacker Jack Cichy, who had eight tackles -- all solo -- as well as a TFL.
With Wisconsin trailing 17-13 early in the fourth quarter, Penniston made a nice grab on a Hornibrook throw for a 29-yard gain, putting the Badgers in the red zone at the 17. The Badgers would eventually score the go-ahead touchdown -- Hornibrook to Penniston. That 29-yard reception not only got Wisconsin knocking on the door, but also it had to give Penniston a big confidence boost as he had bad drops on the previous two passes thrown to him, late in the first half. Of course, those passes were thrown by Houston. So perhaps Hornibrook in at quarterback gave Penniston some new life, too, with a QB who didn't have that very recent past history. Either way, it was a big catch both in the game and for the young tight end.
0 -- number of penalties committed by Wisconsin. The Badgers shot themselves in the foot many times in this game, but they were very disciplined in every phase of the game. Was it the difference? Who knows, but it didn't hurt, whereas Georgia State had a holding penalty which hurt a drive and ended up forcing the Panthers into a field-goal attempt. It was the first time since Nov. 15, 1997 vs. Michigan that Wisconsin had no penalties in a game.
"Just got done with the game. Like I said, Bart's our starter right now. I'm proud of what Alex did and how he came in. So I'm not planning anything right now other than appreciating this win." -- head coach Paul Chryst when asked who would start at quarterback next game.
"I thought we might've started slow but at the end of the day we bowed up and we made a stop in the fourth quarter, two key stops to which was critical for our defense. We just have to start faster, come out with more energy, but at the end of the day we got the job done." -- linebacker T.J. Watt
"I think I had a lot of jitters going in in the first half. I think I came in the locker room at half and I had a lot of older guys supporting me and just kind of saying just take a deep breath, act like it's practice, just pretend like no one's here. That helped out a lot." -- tight end Kyle Penniston
"To me, it's his poise and his confidence. He is so calm, under control, never high and never low. He's always consistent in his emotions and it shows up in his play." -- center Michael Deiter on the greatest attribute of Hornibrook
Wisconsin (3-0) shouldn't have any problem getting up for its next opponent. The Badgers open Big Ten play -- remember, there are nine conference games this season -- at Michigan State (2-0), which is coming off a 36-28 win over then-No. 18 Notre Dame (after leading 36-7). The game, though, will be at 11 a.m. We'll see if the Badgers can avoid another early-morning hangover.
Dave Heller is the author of the upcoming book Ken Williams: A Slugger in Ruth's Shadow as well as Facing Ted Williams Players from the Golden Age of Baseball Recall the Greatest Hitter Who Ever Lived and As Good As It Got: The 1944 St. Louis Browns
