In a short interview with Big Ten Network Wisconsin, former Wisconsin star wide receiver and kick returner David Gilreath talked about hi…
In a short interview with Big Ten Network Wisconsin, former Wisconsin star wide receiver and kick returner David Gilreath talked about his experience the night before his legendary 97-yard touchdown return to open the game against the number one ranked Ohio State Buckeyes in 2010. The touchdown led the Badgers to upset the Buckeyes 31-18.
He talked about meeting former Michigan star wide receiver and current ESPN college football analyst Desmond Howard the night before the game, and the words that motivated what is known to many Wisconsin fans as ‘The Return.’ Gilreath mentions that Howard told him to show everyone his personality and that inspired him to show the world that he was the type of person to show up in big games.
It is really interesting to hear a player’s perspective on such an important play and game in the history of Wisconsin Football.
Know what tomorrow is?
It's the 🔟-year anniversary of @DavidGilreath18's kick return TD vs. No. 1 OSU.
Monday afternoon, former Wisconsin wide receiver and return threat David Gilreath picked his top four plays in his time with the Badgers…
Monday afternoon, former Wisconsin wide receiver and return threat David Gilreath picked his top four plays in his time with the Badgers on Big Ten Network Wisconsin’s twitter account. Gilreath showed just how versatile he was in college by picking a rushing touchdown, a punt return for a touchdown, a receiving touchdown, and a kick return for a touchdown as his favorite plays.
After his successful career at Wisconsin, David Gilreath was a journeyman in the NFL playing for seven teams in his eight-year career as mostly a practice squad player. Despite his lack of success in the NFL, Gilreath has the record for most all-time kick return yards in the Big Ten and is the only Badger to score a rushing touchdown, a receiving touchdown, a punt return touchdown, and a kick return touchdown.
It appears that Gilreath may have aimed to remind people of his record and versatility when picking his four top plays. It is really fun to be able to see how talented Wisconsin was in the early 2010s era and reminds me just how good the Badgers have consistently been.
With sports currently on hold, I thought I’d go back into the archive of classic Badger games from the early 2000s up until 2016 that I…
Though I have always been an avid fan of college football, I didn’t start closely following the Badgers until I arrived on campus in 2017. With sports currently on hold, I thought I’d go back into the archive of classic Badger games from the early 2000s up until 2016 that I haven’t yet watched or do not remember watching. This BadgerWire rewatch series is my analysis and reactions while watching those contests.
As chosen by you on Twitter, I decided to start with the David Gilreath game: No. 1 Ohio State at No. 18 Wisconsin on October 16, 2010.Â
Starting an article series in the coming days where I go back and re-watch old Wisconsin football games which I don't know the outcome of, since there's nothing better to do, and write up my thoughts and reactions to the contests. Where should I start?
My first thought watching this game was how much I miss hearing Brent Musberger’s voice saying “you are looking live” when an ESPN broadcast went on-air. Tuning into a game, hearing his voice, the best big-game voice in college football history, and seeing him next to a young Kirk Herbstreit brought big time nostalgia right out of the gate.
That nostalgia didn’t last long as Gilreath took the opening kickoff to the house.
I’d seen the highlight before and knew the play happened, though I was caught off guard when the house started rocking before I could even see who was on the field for both teams.Â
It seemed on television like the loudest moment I’ve ever heard at Camp Randall Stadium.
Ohio State then got a shot with the ball and immediately made me question why they were the number one team in the nation. Terrelle Pryor thought he was who Justin Fields is for the current Buckeye team. The mix of athleticism and a rocket arm applies to both quarterbacks, though it was evident early on that Fields does what Pryor did when he was in college but does it all a lot better.
In total, it was clear from the onset that this No. 1-ranked Buckeye team is not close in talent level to the top-5 Buckeye team from this past season.
Wisconsin quickly got the ball back from Ohio State and the offensive line gave running back John Clay entire freeways to run through en route to another touchdown to make it 14-0 Badgers. I guess offensive line play has been a strength of this program for a little while. Up to that point, the Badgers led 14-0 and quarterback Scott Tolzien had not thrown a ball past the line of scrimmage, a perfect image of Wisconsin football.
The game moved on and as the Badgers added to their lead I realized why fans voted this game as the first to go back and re-watch. One overarching observation I had throughout the contest was that if you put last year’s Badger team against this Buckeye team, and against the TCU team that Wisconsin met in the Rose Bowl that year, they would have dominated the contest. It’s impressive how far this program has come in terms of NFL talent on both sides of the football and schematic advancements on offense while at the same time staying true to their brand of football.
Well, not surprisingly at all and nearly identical to this year’s Big Ten Championship, Ohio State rallied after halftime and cut the lead to 21-18.
It was after this point when it became clear how dominant J.J. Watt was and how good of a pro he was destined to be–and it was great hearing Herbstreit talk about Watt and his path to Wisconsin with no knowledge of the star he was going to become.
My final notes as the Badgers secured one of the biggest victories in their program history to date:
Buckeye Cameron Heyward was a man amongst boys
Pryor was a bad thrower of the football (â…› on passes 5+ yards down the field in the first half)
I loved hearing Musburger and Herbstreit talk about Watt, James White and Paul Chryst and say how highly they were regarded without any idea how good they were going to become
Fields and the current OSU spread offense is so, so, so much more effective than the version Buckeye Head Coach Jim Tressel had running in Madison that day
This Badger team isn’t dissimilar from the one we watched last year, with Nick Toon being Quintez Cephus, Tolzien as Jack Coan and Clay and White combined as Jonathan TaylorÂ
Finally, Chryst’s late-game play action call to seal the victory caught me, the entire stadium and even the announcers off guard
If you are like me and haven’t yet seen this game in its entirety, do so. It’s worth your time.
