Ah, homecoming.
Last October, Wisconsin backup QB Jim Sorgi returned to his home state of Michigan and saw the first action of his college football career. With Brooks Bollinger sidelined with a concussion, Sorgi was inserted in the second half against Michigan State and proceeded to lead to Badgers to a stunning 17-10 victory, connecting with Lee Evans for a 45-yard touchdown pass with 29 seconds remaining to win the game.
This October, the Spartans will step into Camp Randall on the Badger’s homecoming weekend, and Sorgi, a native of Fraser, Mich., will apparently have another chance to defeat the team he grew up watching.
With Brooks Bollinger still recovering from injuries to his hip flexor and groin suffered in last week’s heartbreaking loss to Illinois, there is a good chance that Sorgi will be under center for the Badgers Saturday.
“Brooks is day-to-day,” head coach Barry Alvarez said at Monday’s press conference. “If we practiced today, he wouldn’t be able to go.”
If Bollinger is indeed out for Saturday’s game, Sorgi won’t have any trouble getting geared up for his start.
“I don’t need much motivation for any game,” Sorgi said. “But it’s a different feeling when you play Michigan and Michigan State. I can’t think of a better feeling — if I do get to play — than to come out and beat Michigan State at home.”
Whichever quarterback starts for the Badgers will be faced with a near must-win situation against the Spartans. Another loss for the Badgers (4-4, 2-2 Big Ten) would make a bowl berth a distant possibility.
The Spartans (3-2, 1-2 Big Ten) will provide a test for the Badgers, as they are loaded with talent and experience on both sides of the ball. The defense has five starters returning from last year, and has played well thus far this year, especially against the pass, allowing only 164 passing yards per game. The defense has also recorded eight interceptions, led by cornerback Broderick Nelson, who has four picks on the season.
The MSU defense has proven more suspect against the run than the pass, however. In last week’s game against lowly Minnesota (2-4, 1-3 Big Ten), the Spartans allowed 322 rushing yards. On the season, they have allowed 196 rushing yards per game, a stat that does not bode well for the Spartans, considering who is standing five yards deep in the Badger backfield.
“After giving up 322 yards on the ground at Minnesota, our next assignment comes against Anthony Davis, the Big Ten’s leading rusher,” said MSU coach Bobby Williams. “Davis is a very explosive running back. He can really accelerate to the hole and through it. With his build and speed, he can break a lot of tackles.”
As for who’s handing the ball off to Davis, if Bollinger is indeed in street clothes on Saturday, Alvarez feels that if Sorgi’s performance last week is an indicator of how he will play against the Spartans, he’ll have a shot at repeating his performance from last year.
“I thought [Sorgi] played well in the second half [against Illinois],” Alvarez said. “I thought he had a rhythm — thought he was playing with confidence, throwing the ball on time, putting the ball where it had to be, had control of the huddle. I thought he handled himself very well.”
While Sorgi will have to contend with the MSU defense, the strength of this Michigan State team is certainly their offense, which is filled with skilled players at every position.
The workhorse for MSU is tailback T.J. Duckett, a bruising 6-foot-1, 249-pound junior. Duckett has led the Spartans in rushing each of the last three years and has accumulated 447 yards and three touchdowns in five games this season. Although Duckett’s yards-per-carry and yards-per-game averages are not quite up to the standard he set for himself over the last three years, his size and speed make him a considerable threat.
“Everybody knows about Duckett,” Alvarez said. “We saw him as a true freshman coming in here and breaking a long one against us. He’s a big physical back, he’s shifty, he’s hard to bring down, a lot of people rub off of him because he’s so thick.”
Complementing Duckett are two excellent wide receivers, Herb Haygood and Charles Rodgers. Haygood doubles as the Spartans’ kick returner, and has put up impressive numbers in that phase of the game this season. He leads the NCAA in kickoff-returns with a 34.4-yard average, and has already taken two kickoffs back for touchdowns this season, including a 100-yard return against Iowa, a game in which he accumulated 240 all-purpose yards. Cornerback Mike Echols will spend most of his afternoon covering the dangerous Haygood.
Rodgers is an imposing physical presence, standing 6-foot-4 and weighing 202 pounds. His size and speed may prove to be a problem for the Badger secondary.
“Rodgers is a big receiver, and he really looks fast on film,” said Badger safety Joey Boese. “Haygood’s one of their captains. He’s a really good special teams guy. I think they’re both deep threats — you know that they can throw the ball vertical. They also are good possession guys; they both have very good hands. I think in their offense they try to utilize those guys as much as possible. It’s going to be a challenge for our defense, especially our secondary, to tighten up and make some plays.”
Boese appeared to have no reservations about having to face the 6-foot-4 Haygood, who has five inches on the safety.
“That’s what this league is all about — big receivers,” Boese said. “We might have some tiny guys back there, but that shouldn’t matter. If that means jumping a little higher, or making more of an effort to get it out, that’s what we’ve got to do. It’s about making plays.”
Calling the signals for the Spartans will be Jeff Smoker, who has not been firmly established as the No. 1 QB, but has played well in his time on the field, and is coming off the best game of his career. In last week’s loss to Minnesota, Smoker, who had been splitting time with Ryan Van Dyke before Van Dyke went down with a broken jaw, was extremely efficient, completing 21 of 33 passes for a career-high 258 yards and two touchdowns. Last year against the Badgers, Smoker completed 6 passes for 119 yards and a touchdown.
On this Homecoming weekend, Smoker and the Spartans will walk into a hostile Camp Randall filled to capacity with alumni returning to Madison, hungry for a much-needed victory.
Sorgi will likely be making a homecoming of sorts of his own: returning to signal-calling duties against the team he saw his first college action against, the team from his home state.
Much is at stake for the Badgers; a loss would make the prospect of a winning season seem grim, especially with the dangerous Michigan Wolverines still on the schedule. This weekend may be the final chance for the Badgers to salvage a season gone awry, maintain their position as a force in the Big Ten, and send starved Wisconsin fans from across the nation home with smiles on their faces.
