Week 1 of the No. 19 Wisconsin Badgers 2019 season replay is in the books and UW went on the road to play the USF Bulls and…well…mopped the floor with them. USF wasn’t able to move the ball at all until the backups came in on defense and the Bulls defense couldn’t stop anyone, regardless of if they started the game or not.
It was a dominant performance on the ground as Jonathan Taylor, Garrett Groshek and Nakia Watson all scored touchdowns. Taylor and Groshek each ran for over 100 yards while Watson averaged five yards per carry with limited touches. It should be noted that Taylor only had five touchdowns, not six, but if that extra score helps him win the Heisman…so be it.
While the running game was the star of the show, as it always is when talking Wisconsin football, the passing game held up their end of the deal well. Jack Coan looked sharp and Chase Wolf showed the world that he’d be read should Coan go down with an injury or need to take a bathroom break.
On the receiving end of all of those passes were mostly TE Jake Ferguson and then the rest of the balls were spread out evenly among the top-three WRs. John Chenal caught one pass running straight out of bounds for a loss of one yard. It was not his finest moment.
The pass protection was a little suspect at times, but never anything to worry about. It would just be picking nits to note that Logan Bruss gave up two sacks.
The defense was lights out the entire time the starters were in. USF could get nothing going through the air or on the ground and their screen game, which they went to often, was usually snuffed out.
Jack Sanborn was all over the field and Zack Baun and Isaiahh Loudermilk each recorded a sack. The defense also forced five turnovers, all interceptions. There are very few things I believe myself to be better at than most people on the planet, but intercepting passes in NCAA 14 is one of them.
Here are the overall team statistics if you’re interested. Things probably won’t be much more difficult against Central Michigan in Week 2, but once B1G play hits these gaudy numbers are sure to go down.
I hope everyone notes the fourth down conversions. One of them was on 4th and 18 as time expired in the first half. Really goosing the numbers tbqh.
