Badgers running back Chez Mellusi on his winning return to the field
Wisconsin running back Chez Mellusi discussed his touchdown and strong showing against Western Michigan in the season opener Aug. 30.
MADISON – Teams don’t sign up for tests like the one Wisconsin faced Friday night, but when push comes to shove it’s good to know they can pass them.
That was the state of Badgers football Friday night.
UW, a 24-point favorite, found itself trailing Western Michigan in the fourth quarter before scoring 15 unanswered points to post a 28-14 victory in the season opener played in front of 75,158 at Camp Randall Stadium.
Winning games in the fourth quarter has been a bugaboo for the Badgers the past couple of years. Last year, they were 2-5 in those situations, so being able to put away an opponent, even one that was a heavy underdog, during that portion of the game was not taken lightly.
“I’ve been in these games before and sometimes they’re not the most fun, but what it comes down to is you’ve got to find a way …,” Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell said. “I give our guys a lot of credit. They didn’t bat an eye.”
The Badgers caught a break early in the fourth quarter when Atticus Bertrams put some backspin on a 50-yard punt that took an unexpected bounce and hit Western Michigan’s defensive back DaShon Bussell in the back. The muff was recovered by UW’s Austin Brown.
Four plays later, Tawee Walker broke two tackles during a 6-yard touchdown run that provided the Badgers with the go-ahead points with 10 minutes, 35 seconds to play. Quarterback Tyler Van Dyke added a 6-yard scoring run with 3:17 left, which, after the extra point, gave the Badgers their final margin of victory.
UW held signficant statistical advantage despite trailing in fourth quarter
Van Dyke completed 21 of 36 passes for 192 yards in his UW debut. Senior running back Chez Mellusi led the team in attempts (19) and rushing yards (74) in his first game since he suffered a broken fibula against Purdue last season. Walker, the senior transfer from Oklahoma, added 15 carries for 66 yards in his Badgers debut.
“We’re working to be the best program we can be and I think we took a really big step,” senior linebacker Jake Chaney said. “Nobody really bat an eye or shut down in the fourth quarter. We knew what we had to do and we executed.”
It was a hard-earned win that could have been much easier.
Wisconsin finished with a 388-261 advantage in total offense, an 82-52 edge in offensive plays and held the ball for 10½ more minutes. The game would have been in hand much earlier had UW performed better in the red zone.
The Badgers scored just one touchdown in its first four trips inside the Broncos’ 20. Two of those possessions ended with field goals. They managed a 10-7 lead at the half, despite reaching the red zone on each of their first three possessions.
“That’s the thing,” Fickell said. “If there is something that is glaring that we’ve got do a better job of, it’s when we get to the red zone.
“I think offensive we had too many penalties. We put ourselves into negative yardage plays and that put us in situations to kick field goals and that is not what we want to do and we know we’ve got to do a better job of that.”
Wisconsin’s first four possessions went at least 14 plays but it had only 13 points to show for it.
On the first possession, the Badgers moved 62 yards in 12 plays but then managed just 1 yard in the next three plays before Nathanial Vakos missed a 36-yard field goal. Mellusi capped a 16-play, 93-yard drive with a 9-yard touchdown run on UW’s next possession. On the final drive of the half, Van Dyke was almost intercepted before Vakos hit a 33-yard field goal on the final play to give UW a 10-7 edge.
And on the first possession of the second half, a false-start call on first-and-goal from the 6 helped derail another opportunity to get into the end zone.
The highs and lows of Tyler Van Dyke’s play
Van Dyke, who led five scoring drives, targeted 10 receivers and completed passes to eight. He was 5 for 8 for 57 yards on third down, four times moving the chains. But he also had two near interceptions and his third-quarter fumble set up Western Michigan’s second touchdown.
“That’s the whole thing about playing quarterback. You’ve got to respond with the football,” Van Dyke said. “I might have tried to force a couple in there that I shouldn’t have thrown. I just have to make better decisions, especially in the red zone.
“You’ve got to take what they give us and take the medicine sometimes and not force the ball into certain situations.”
The Badgers also lacked big plays on offense. Its longest gain was 17 yards, and with Western Michigan playing to take away deep balls, UW almost never attacked with downfield throws.
Western Michigan, in comparison, had four plays over 20 yards and five that went 17 or longer, including a 26-yard gain by kicker Parker Domschke on a fake field goal attempt. That play led to a 1-yard touchdown run by Jalen Buckley that, after the extra point, gave the Broncos a 14-13 edge with 14 minutes to play.
The Badgers were in trouble but quickly turned adversity into opportunity.
“We preached it all offseason,” safety Hunter Wohler said about finishing games. “It was a goal for us last year and we came up short and that was a huge emphasis this offseason, (that) we have to be good at the very end, so to do it in the first game and prove to ourselves and this program that we can play really well when the game is on the line means lot going forward.”
More: Have a question about the Wisconsin Badgers’ football victory last night? Ask Mark Stewart.
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Publish date : 2024-08-31 02:11:00
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