Badgers Hold Off Feisty Northern Iowa for 26-21 Win

The Badgers were expected to come out and blow away FCS opponent Northern Iowa at home in the season opener but NIU proved to be a much more worthy foe than expected. Despite a sluggish start offensively, the Badgers were able to build a 13-0 halftime lead, and they extended that lead to 19-0 with a dominating series early in the third quarter, capped by Montee Ball’s first TD of the year. That’s when the trouble started.

UNI opened up its passing game after falling far behind, letting redshirt freshman Sawyer Kollmorgen operate, and he started making plays. A 13 play, 75 yard drive ended in a two yard TD pass to Chad Owens, cutting the Badger lead to 19-7. Wisconsin got the TD back on a sweet play action pass from Danny O’Brien to Jared Abbrederis, exploiting a UNI defense that was selling out to stop the run seemingly on every play. But UNI came right back when Kollmorgen hit David Johnson on a wheel route for a 55-yard TD, exploiting out-of-position Wisconsin defenders. Obviously the UNI coaching staff saw something in the Badger defense they could work on, because on the very next series, UNI scored a 31 yard TD on the same wheel route to Johnson.

With the score now 26-21, Wisconsin was offiically on upset alert. They had a chance to take back momentum but Danny O’Brien came up short on a would-be first down scramble. After the ensuing punt, UNI began moving the ball agian, making Badger fans wonder if there was anyone on the defense who could make a play. It turned out there was. Facing fourth down, UNI attempted a pass, and defensive lineman Ethan Hemer came on a bull rush and was able to tip the ball for an incompletion, giving the ball back to Wisconsin with time running short. UNI had burned all their timeouts by now and could only watch helplessly as Montee Ball ran out the clock. The Badgers survived the scare to win 26-21.

The quick takeaways from this game: The Badgers have a lot of work to do on both sides of the ball. The offensive numbers were good across the board but the Badgers had a couple stall-outs in the red zone, which prevented them from building a big early lead. The running game was okay but there were no big plays, possibly because UNI was stacking the box to stop Montee Ball and James White from getting off. Matt Canada seemed wary about unleashing Danny O’Brien but as the game wore on he finally let the QB pass and the results were positive. O’Brien looked good on the deep balls and was accurate on the short ones. Jacob Pedersen had only two catches, which is somewhat concerning, but I’m sure the Badgers will make a concerted effort to get him more involved in the future. Canada mixed in some spread plays and those were not particularly successful, partly thanks to some weak blocking by receivers and tight ends.

But the really big problems were on defense. Again, where is the push from the front four? Kollmorgen, a redshirt freshman starting his first college game, had too many opportunities to stand in the pocket and pick apart the soft zone. Chris Ash was outclassed in the second half as far as I’m concerned. UNI found weaknesses in the Badger coverages and Ash was unable to adjust. But those coverage issues would be less concerning if there were any hint of a push from the front four. Beau Allen got some penetration a couple of times but for the most part, those guys up front were unable to beat their men. As the game wore on, Ash went more-and-more to straight four-man rushes with the zone hanging back, for fear of giving up the big play. There has to be more push from the front four or this defense is going to get reamed. I don’t know what the answer is. You can’t keep bringing Chris Borland on blitzes over and over. Someone needs to step up or the Badgers will be looking at a .500 Big Ten campaign.

Here are your highlights courtesy of ESPN: