Michigan 24 #21 Wisconsin 45 - November 14, 2009 -
Madison, Wis.
(16-7)
 
MADISON, Wis. (AP)—For long-suffering conference rivals looking to throw some grief back at the once-dominant Michigan Wolverines, now’s the time.
Have at it, Badgers.
No. 21 Wisconsin became the latest Big Ten team to get the best of the reeling Wolverines and coach Rich Rodriguez, winning 45-24 Saturday behind four touchdown passes and a TD sneak from quarterback Scott Tolzien.
“Scotty had a big grin on his face walking off the field,” Badgers coach Bret Bielema said. “To beat Michigan is a big deal.”
It was sweet redemption on Senior Day for the Badgers (8-2, 5-2), who watched last year’s promising season unravel after blowing a big lead in the Big House last year. Wisconsin has regained momentum in what is shaping up to be a better-than-expected 2009 campaign, winning three straight after consecutive losses to Ohio State and Iowa.
It was the sixth straight conference setback for the Wolverines (5-6, 1-6), whose miserable Big Ten season just keeps getting worse—and with a potential bowl bid slipping away, Ohio State awaits next Saturday.
“There’s no question we’ve got one more chance,” Rodriguez said. “I’ve asked the team to be extra focused. We’ve been focused all year, but this is the biggest game of the year. Our guys know that.”
Wisconsin’s 45 points were the most the Badgers have ever scored against Michigan.
After the Badgers blew a 19-point lead in a loss to Michigan last year, Badgers defensive end O’Brien Schofield said he wasn’t comfortable celebrating the win until the clock hit zero.
“I didn’t want to think about that,” Schofield said. “Because last year, I was like, ‘We are killing these guys, these guys are terrible.’ … That was bad. I had to eat my words.”
Tolzien was 16 of 24 for 240 yards with an interception despite spending much of the game under pressure from defensive end Brandon Graham, who had a pair of sacks and forced a fumble that was returned for a touchdown to give the Wolverines a 17-14 lead just before halftime.
But this time, the second-half letdown that has become this Michigan team’s dubious trademark actually began just before halftime, when it allowed the Badgers to drive for a 1-yard touchdown by John Clay.
“We’ve got to stay focused on what we need to do,” Graham said. “Most of the games we were out of our gaps and let big plays happen. It’s been killing us.”
Nick Toon caught two of Tolzien’s touchdown throws for the Badgers, who went to the air early on after putting together monster rushing performances in their previous two games.
Leading 21-17, Wisconsin received the second-half kickoff and marched to the Michigan 15-yard line, where Tolzien threw toward Toon in the end zone. Toon, son of former Badgers and NFL receiver Al Toon, jumped and came down with his second TD of the day despite being interfered with on the play.
Tate Forcier was a solid 20 of 26 for 188 yards with two touchdowns and an interception, but it wasn’t enough. After a 4-0 start to the season, the Wolverines are reeling heading into their biggest rivalry.
“If I have to spend 10 hours this week watching film, I’m going to do that,” Forcier said. “We’re going to get the seniors to a bowl game. We’re going to come out and do what we need to do to beat Ohio State.”
Forcier kept Michigan in the game after Toon’s acrobatic touchdown catch, converting a fourth-and-9 play to set up a 10-yard touchdown pass to Roy Roundtree that cut Wisconsin’s lead to 28-24 midway through the third.
But the Wolverines defense just couldn’t get the stop it needed.
With Wisconsin facing third-and-7 at the Michigan 19, linebacker Stevie Brown burst through the line and Tolzien got rid of the ball just before taking a crunching hit, delivering a 12-yard pass to tight end Garrett Graham to set up first-and-goal at the 7. Tolzien threw a touchdown to tight end Lance Kendricks two plays later, putting Wisconsin up 35-24.
The Badgers were coming off impressive rushing performances in victories over Purdue and Indiana but had a hard time finding yards on the ground against Michigan’s defense early on. Michigan held Wisconsin to 53 yards rushing in the first half but couldn’t keep it up, as John Clay got 109 of his 151 yards on the ground after halftime.
“Defensively, we are reaching to find an answer to stop people,” Rodriguez said.
Scoring Summary
Score by Quarters 1 2 3 4 Score
----------------- -- -- -- -- -----
Michigan............ 7 10 7 0 - 24
Wisconsin........... 7 14 14 10 - 45
Attendance: 80,540
Scoring Summary:
1st 11:14 WIS - Graham, Garrett 22 yd pass from Tolzien, Scott (Welch, Philip kick)
5 plays, 80 yards, TOP 2:07, MICH 0 - WIS 7
06:17 MICH - Smith, Vincent 21 yd pass from Forcier, Tate (Olesnavage, J. kick)
11 plays, 74 yards, TOP 4:52, MICH 7 - WIS 7
2nd 14:16 MICH - Olesnavage, J. 37 yd field goal
4 plays, 6 yards, TOP 0:46, MICH 10 - WIS 7
08:29 WIS - Toon, Nick 8 yd pass from Tolzien, Scott (Welch, Philip kick)
14 plays, 75 yards, TOP 5:42, MICH 10 - WIS 14
03:46 MICH - Van Bergen, R. 14 yd fumble recovery (Olesnavage, J. kick)
MICH 17 - WIS 14
01:09 WIS - Clay, John 1 yd run (Welch, Philip kick)
6 plays, 74 yards, TOP 2:31, MICH 17 - WIS 21
3rd 10:03 WIS - Toon, Nick 15 yd pass from Tolzien, Scott (Welch, Philip kick)
10 plays, 80 yards, TOP 4:57, MICH 17 - WIS 28
06:59 MICH - Roundtree, Roy 10 yd pass from Forcier, Tate (Olesnavage, J. kick)
8 plays, 60 yards, TOP 2:59, MICH 24 - WIS 28
02:08 WIS - Kendricks, Lanc 7 yd pass from Tolzien, Scott (Welch, Philip kick)
8 plays, 66 yards, TOP 4:42, MICH 24 - WIS 35
4th 11:00 WIS - Tolzien, Scott 1 yd run (Welch, Philip kick)
10 plays, 60 yards, TOP 4:55, MICH 24 - WIS 42
01:43 WIS - Welch, Philip 28 yd field goal
15 plays, 60 yards, TOP 8:01, MICH 24 - WIS 45
Kickoff time: 11:01 End of Game: 1404 Total elapsed time: 3:03
Officials: Referee: Bill LeMonnier; Umpire: Rich Nelson; Linesman: Lichael Dolce;
Line judge: Julius Livas; Back judge: Kevin Schwarzel; Field judge: Gerald Hocker;
Side judge: Todd Ransom; Scorer: Joe Dempich;
Temperature: 51 Wind: south 8 Weather: Partly Cloudy
Team Statistics
MICH WIS
FIRST DOWNS................... 15 28
Rushing..................... 5 16
Passing..................... 10 10
Penalty..................... 0 2
NET YARDS RUSHING............. 71 229
Rushing Attempts............ 32 52
Average Per Rush............ 2.2 4.4
Rushing Touchdowns.......... 0 2
Yards Gained Rushing........ 100 265
Yards Lost Rushing.......... 29 36
NET YARDS PASSING............. 194 240
Completions-Attempts-Int.... 21-31-1 16-24-1
Average Per Attempt......... 6.3 10.0
Average Per Completion...... 9.2 15.0
Passing Touchdowns.......... 2 4
TOTAL OFFENSE YARDS........... 265 469
Total offense plays......... 63 76
Average Gain Per Play....... 4.2 6.2
Fumbles: Number-Lost.......... 1-0 2-1
Penalties: Number-Yards....... 3-38 4-30
PUNTS-YARDS................... 3-120 1-34
Average Yards Per Punt...... 40.0 34.0
Net Yards Per Punt.......... 38.3 34.0
Inside 20................... 0 0
50+ Yards................... 0 0
Touchbacks.................. 0 0
Fair catch.................. 1 1
KICKOFFS-YARDS................ 5-335 8-536
Average Yards Per Kickoff... 67.0 67.0
Net Yards Per Kickoff....... 45.0 47.6
Touchbacks.................. 2 1
Punt returns: Number-Yards-TD. 0-0-0 2-5-0
Average Per Return.......... 0.0 2.5
Kickoff returns: Number-Yds-TD 6-135-0 3-70-0
Average Per Return.......... 22.5 23.3
Interceptions: Number-Yds-TD.. 1-0-0 1-0-0
Fumble Returns: Number-Yds-TD. 1-14-1 0-0-0
Miscellaneous Yards........... -6 0
Possession Time............... 24:11 35:49
1st Quarter................. 10:38 4:22
2nd Quarter................. 6:18 8:42
3rd Quarter................. 4:17 10:43
4th Quarter................. 2:58 12:02
Third-Down Conversions........ 6 of 15 6 of 11
Fourth-Down Conversions....... 1 of 3 1 of 1
Red-Zone Scores-Chances....... 2-3 6-6
Sacks By: Number-Yards........ 2-25 2-20
PAT Kicks..................... 3-3 6-6
Field Goals................... 1-2 1-1
Michigan Individual Statistics
Rushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg
--------------------------------------------
Robinson, D. 5 36 0 36 0 23 7.2
Smith, Vincent 8 28 0 28 0 6 3.5
Minor, Brandon 7 26 0 26 0 14 3.7
Brown, Carlos 2 2 0 2 0 2 1.0
Shaw, Michael 2 0 5 -5 0 0 -2.5
Forcier, Tate 8 8 24 -16 0 5 -2.0
Totals... 32 100 29 71 0 23 2.2
Passing Cmp-Att-Int Yds TD Long Sack
--------------------------------------------
Forcier, Tate 20-26-1 188 2 26 2
Robinson, D. 1-5-0 6 0 6 0
Totals... 21-31-1 194 2 26 2
Receiving No. Yds TD Long
-----------------------------------
Roundtree, Roy 7 56 1 26
Smith, Vincent 7 54 1 21
Mathews, Greg 4 53 0 25
Hemingway, J. 2 25 0 14
Savoy, L. 1 6 0 6
Totals... 21 194 2 26
Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 TB
----------------------------------------------
Mesko, Zoltan 3 120 40.0 48 0 0
Totals... 3 120 40.0 48 0 0
Punts Kickoffs Intercept
All Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg
---------------------------------------------
Stonum, Darryl 0 0 0 6 135 33 0 0 0
Kovacs, Jordan 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Totals... 0 0 0 6 135 33 1 0 0
Field goal attempts
----------------------------------------
Olesnavage, J. 1st 01:22 19 yds - Blocked
Olesnavage, J. 2nd 14:16 37 yds - Good
Kickoffs No. Yds TB OB Avg
---------------------------------------
Wright, Bryan 5 335 2 0 67.0
Fumbles (Number-Lost): Forcier, Tate 1-0.
Wisconsin Individual Statistics
Rushing No Gain Loss Net TD Lg Avg
--------------------------------------------
Clay, John 26 156 5 151 1 33 5.8
Ball, Montee 16 68 6 62 0 15 3.9
Kendricks, Lanc 2 15 0 15 0 12 7.5
Brown, Zach 1 12 0 12 0 12 12.0
Gilreath, David 1 1 0 1 0 1 1.0
Tolzien, Scott 6 13 25 -12 1 12 -2.0
Totals... 52 265 36 229 2 33 4.4
Passing Cmp-Att-Int Yds TD Long Sack
--------------------------------------------
Tolzien, Scott 16-24-1 240 4 36 2
Totals... 16-24-1 240 4 36 2
Receiving No. Yds TD Long
-----------------------------------
Toon, Nick 5 98 2 36
Graham, Garrett 5 62 1 23
Anderson, Isaac 4 65 0 27
Ball, Montee 1 8 0 8
Kendricks, Lanc 1 7 1 7
Totals... 16 240 4 36
Punting No. Yds Avg Long In20 TB
----------------------------------------------
Nortman, Brad 1 34 34.0 34 0 0
Totals... 1 34 34.0 34 0 0
Punts Kickoffs Intercept
All Returns No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg No.Yds.Lg
---------------------------------------------
Anderson, Isaac 0 0 0 2 55 29 0 0 0
Brinkley, Niles 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 0 0
Borland, Chris 0 0 0 1 15 15 0 0 0
Gilreath, David 2 5 5 0 0 0 0 0 0
Totals... 2 5 5 3 70 29 1 0 0
Field goal attempts
----------------------------------------
Welch, Philip 4th 01:43 28 yds - Good
Kickoffs No. Yds TB OB Avg
---------------------------------------
Welch, Philip 8 536 1 1 67.0
Fumbles (Number-Lost): Kendricks, Lanc 1-0; Tolzien, Scott 1-1.
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