It was a long time coming, but quarterback Graham Mertz and the Wisconsin Badgers finally returned to the football field tonight in Ann Arbor, Michigan and made an absolute statement in their return, routing the Michigan Wolverines 49-11.
There were many question marks heading into the contest about what the Badger football team would look like after 22 days since their Week 1 contest, whether they will be well conditioned and what the team will look like against a team not named Illinois.
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Well, those questions were answered, as even without several key contributors on both sides of the football–running back Garrett Groshek, defensive end Garrett Rand, cornerback Rachad Wildgoose and outside linebacker Izayah Green-May to name a few–and without Graham Mertz playing an amazing game, they played a sharp and dominant football game from start to finish.
Jim Leonhard’s defense came out of the gates with a bang, intercepting Wolverine quarterback Joe Milton on his first two pass attempts, and held the Milton-led offense to zero first-half points, 219 total yards, 47 rushing yards, 2.5 yards-per-carry and 11 total points.
Joe Rudolph’s offense did everything they needed to do to win–establishing the run early, letting Graham Mertz get comfortable, dialing up end arounds, getting their playmakers the ball in space and punching the ball into the end zone on all of their red-zone trips.
There are several things you can take away from this game, but the biggest thing we saw on the field tonight–aside from players like Leo Chenal, Nick Herbig, Jalen Berger and the entire offensive line showing out–was how much of a mismatch Paul Chryst was for Michigan Head Coach Jim Harbaugh.
It can be stated as clear as this: Chryst’s team came out with a purpose and like a team that had just gotten two games taken away while Harbaugh’s team came out uninspired and looked like a unit that had nothing to play for.
Paul Chryst’s Badgers now move forward to next weekend’s contest aginst 4-0 Northwestern undefeated and looking sharp, something anybody would have taken heading into the season.
We have a lot of postgame content coming your way this week on BadgersWire. But for now, it’s good to have Badger football back and I could not have envisioned a better return for the team as they work towards winning their first Big Ten Championship since 2012.