Wisconsin Badgers looked to keep the momentum going under interim coach Jim Leonhard. This afternoon they visited Michigan State who started the year as a ranked team but have struggled lately. Wisconsin loses in double overtime 34-28. Here’s three things from the game
Braelon Allen 2K Yards
Braelon Allen joined an elite group of Wisconsin Badger running backs to hit 2,000 rushing yards in their career. It took the 18 year old star running back just 19 games to achieve this. Braelon will be hard on himself because of that 2nd overtime fumble, but he was a bright spot for the offense today and hit an impressive milestone.
2,000 career rushing yards… light work🙌@BraelonAllen is the 5th-fastest Badger to the 2,000 yard mark‼️ pic.twitter.com/29CE4IJWnW
— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) October 15, 2022
Offenisve Line Struggles
The offensive line was not on their game today in East Lansing. Run blocking wasn’t terrible and allowed some lanes for Braelon Allen. However, the pass protection was horrendous and didn’t allow the Badgers passing attack to thrive at all. On Mertz fist interception, it was a bad decision but you could also argue that a defender was right in his face. Later in the game on 3rd down, a four man rush got home once again and almost caused another bad throw from Mertz but ended in a dropped INT.
This group has been in the headlines this week after some transfer news from a former 5-star recruit. I think we often take for granted how dominant this line has been for so long, this year has not been the best from them and dominating the line of scrimmage. When the Badgers were driving down 7 points, we saw back to back false starts from this group.
Game of Miscues
This was the definition of an ugly game from both sides. More penalties then you would like to see in a close contest like this. Most notably on the side of the Badgers, 4th and 4 for Michigan State in the 4th quarter saw a very questionable defensive pass interference. This gave the Spartans an automatic first down which led to a touchdown 2 plays later.
In total, Wisconsin had 8 penalties for 72 yards to go along with an interception that led to a touchdown. Then also a fumble in double overtime that led to the game wining touchdown from Michigan State.
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