Grading No. 8 Wisconsin’s 28-27 loss to No. 6 Oregon in the 106th Rose Bowl Game.
Offense: D
Four turnovers.
Simply put Wisconsin beat themselves on offense at times. Four turnovers all occurring in Wisconsin territory was a killer as Oregon turned Wisconsin’s miscues into 21 points.
Wisconsin fumbled the football three times as Jonathan Taylor, Danny Davis, and Anthony Lotti all lost fumbles while Jack Coan threw an interception.
The dagger came when Davis fumbled the football in the fourth quarter on a jet sweep as the fumble was forced by Rose Bowl Defensive MVP Brady Breeze and was recovered by Bryson Young. Oregon only needed one play to take the lead for good as Oregon’s quarterback Justin Herbert registered a 30-yard rushing touchdown with 7:41 to go in the game.
Davis was also called for an offensive pass interference call on Wisconsin’s last offensive possession of the game, which wiped out a first down catch by Jake Ferguson on third down. Wisconsin’s ensuing offensive play resulted in an incompletion on third and 20 forcing the Badgers to punt the football away with 2:54 to go in the game.
Davis’ 19 yards rushing was second on the team behind Taylor’s 94 yards rushing on 21 carries. Taylor’s 94 yards put him over 2,000 yards rushing for the second consecutive season joining Iowa State’s Troy Davis (1995, 1996). Taylor also added 43 yards receiving on two receptions.
Taylor struggled to get into a rhythm on offense as the Ducks defense did well of containing him as he averaged 4.5 yards per carry as his longest rush was 18 yards against the Ducks defense.
With Oregon doing well of keeping contain of Taylor on the ground meant Coan attempted 35 passes, which was a season-high. Overall Coan finished the game 23-for-35 for 186 yards and one touchdown pass to Quintez Cephus.
Two of Coan’s favorite targets were Cephus (7-59-1) and Ferguson (4-44) as the two combined to catch 11 passes for 103 yards. Overall eight players caught a pass for the Badgers as half of the players who caught a pass registered at least three or more receptions.
Wisconsin’s offense at times struggled to get into a rhythm early in the game as the Badgers defense was able to set Wisconsin’s offense up with good field position when Jack Sanborn intercepted a pass giving the Badgers offense the football back at Oregon’s 27-yard line. But Oregon’s defense stepped up and was able to get off the field after three plays forcing for Wisconsin to settle for a field goal to give the Badgers a 10-7 lead.