| 
Badgers Lose to 10th Ranked Michigan By BigE |
IdataSports.com Sports Staff Writer
BigE@idatasports.com
Posted Tue Nov 19 23:49:00 2002
The Wisconsin Badgers needed a victory on Saturday to make them bowl-eligible, but after starting slowly once again they are on the outside looking in. With tailback Anthony Davis gashing one of the top rushing defenses in college football for 154 yards, the Badgers were still not able to produce points on offense, and eventually fell to Michigan by a score of 21-14.
On Michigan’s first possession, they marched right down the field 75 yards for the first score of the game. Wolverine running back B.J. Askew took the handoff up the middle, before bouncing outside and taking it into the end zone for a 27-yard touchdown to make it 7-0.
On Wisconsin’s following possession, Davis made his only mistake of the game, a fumble that Michigan recovered on the Badger 19-yard line. From there it took Michigan only three plays before Chris Perry went 11 yards up the middle completely untouched for the score to make it 14-7.
The Badgers needed to make something happen in a hurry. You can’t go into the “Big House” and spot Michigan 14 points, and still hope to come out of there with a victory. Give the Badgers credit as the fought their way back into the game. As he has done all year long, the Badgers Jim Leonhard put his stamp on this game. With the Badgers defense finally making a stop, the Wolverines were forced to punt. The shifty Leonhard fielded it at the Michigan 39-yard line, and eluded defenders all the way to the end zone to make it 14-7.
The Badgers came up with a big stop on Michigan’s next offensive series, giving Wisconsin good field position at their own 46-yard line. On the second play of the drive Davis took the handoff from Brooks Bollinger and scooted up the middle for 26 yards. The Michigan defense doesn’t give up many plays like this one, but Davis had his best game as a Badger, going for 154 yards. That wasn’t the highest rushing total for the sophomore, but against Michigan at the “Big House,” it was certainly a big-time game the Badgers got from Davis. He finished off the drive with a 2-yard run around the left side to make it 14-14.
The Badgers started the second half with a feeble attempt at an offensive drive. That’s when the Wolverines started what would be a backbreaking drive of the game. The Michigan offense went on a 16 play drive that covered 78 yards, finishing with a 8-yard touchdown pass from John Navarre to Braylon Edwards to make it 21-14.
There was no more scoring in the game, despite the fact that the Badger receivers were getting open. But a combination of drops and poor throws by Bollinger sealed the Badgers fate.
Bollinger is a hard-nosed kid, but he doesn’t have the arm to keep defenses honest. Coach Barry Alvarez is big on loyalty and will stick with Bollinger no matter what, and that has cost him some victories. It’s hard to question a coach that has brought the Badgers back from the black hole they were in for many years, but now the coach doesn’t have the horses to play smash mouth football that allowed him to win with average quarterback’s. It’s hard for me to understand why the Badgers haven’t been able to land a top prospect at quarterback. I really believe the Badgers were one of the top teams of the 90’s, and should have been able to capitalize on the exposure that winning three Rose Bowl’s brings a university. Is there any question that the Badgers are deficient at the quarterback position?
Now the Badgers are down to a 1 game playoff to qualify for a bowl game, and it is not going to be easy facing the 7-4 Minnesota Gophers. The Gophers were 7-1 at one time, before losing three straight. The Badgers will have to ride Anthony Davis in this game to have any chance for the victory. But let me ask you, do you think the Badgers really deserve to be in a bowl game?
|
