For the first time all season, Jonathan Taylor and No. 8 Wisconsin failed to score on their opening drive. That good start for Michigan State didn’t last long however, as the Spartans were overwhelmed the rest of the way by the Big Ten West favorites to trail 17-0 at halftime in Madison.
Taylor, who wound on scoring on the Badgers’ second drive of the game, finished the first half with 57 yards on 16 carries against one of best rushing defenses in the country the past few seasons. While the Heisman candidate was stellar as usual, it was quarterback Jack Coan who was really impressive in putting together perhaps his best outing of his career so far. The signal-caller had just two incompletions all afternoon and threw for 126 yards and a touchdown that was helped by a circus catch in the end zone by Quintez Cephus.
Wisconsin’s defense wasn’t too shabby either in pitching a shutout, helping the team outscore their opponents by a ridiculous 152-3 margin this season. Michigan State didn’t even get first down until second quarter and had just 38 yards at the break. QB Brian Lewerke was just 4-of-11 for 27 yards and did well to avoid getting sacked despite several opportunities to be taken down. Running the ball was pretty much out of the question for Sparty too, as the team averaged just 1.6 yards a carry.
So it’s safe to say this is a one-sided game, which for the Badgers, is pretty much par for the course this season no matter the opponent.
