After career years by three players on the offensive side of the ball last weekend against Michigan State, the Badger offense looks to continue its dominance over Big Ten defenses this weekend against the Iowa Hawkeyes.
Last weekend, Jim Sorgi, Dwayne Smith and Lee Evans had career games. Sorgi, UW’s senior quarterback, completed 16 of 24 passes, throwing for a career-high 380 yards and five touchdowns.
The five touchdowns were all caught by senior wide receiver Lee Evans, who also caught a career-high 258 yards. His five touchdown grabs tied a Big Ten record for one game, tying Gopher wide receiver Omar Douglas’ 1993 record against Purdue.
Sophomore running back Dwayne Smith, who carried the rushing load Saturday for injured running backs Anthony Davis and Booker Stanley, rushed for a career-high 207 yards and ran for three touchdowns. Smith leads the team with eight rushing touchdowns for the season.
For the second time this season, the Badgers had a 200-yard receiver and a 200-yard rusher; the first time was against Akron earlier this season when Lee Evans had 214 receiving yards and Anthony Davis rushed for 252 yards.
The offensive explosion against the Gophers and Spartans has boosted the confidence of the team.
“It has helped out tremendously,” said Smith when asked about UW offense’s confidence following their last two performances. “I mean everybody knows that Lee (Evans) is a great receiver. We’ve got a great quarterback in Sorgi, and with that a lot of people are going to double up Lee and then leave other receivers open.”
He added, “With the running game working, everything is just clicking, so that is just giving us a lot of confidence.”
Although Evans received much of the praise following UW’s victory over MSU, Smith thought Sorgi’s performance was equally impressive.
“Lee wouldn’t be able to catch all the balls if Sorgi wouldn’t have been able to put it right there,” Smith said. “It’s hard to say (who the key offensive player of the game was), but I am going to have to say both of them.”
The Badgers (7-4, 4-3) beat No. 21 Michigan State, 56-21, in front of a huge crowd at Camp Randall Stadium.
The Badgers now look to face No. 17 Iowa (8-3, 4-3), who beat the Minnesota Gophers 40-22 last weekend.
“We know that we are going to be in a fistfight,” Smith said. “It’s going to be a physical game … We always want to establish the run. That’s the main thing.”
Iowa’s defense, ranked No. 4 in the Big Ten, is led by sophomore linebackers Abdul Hodge and Chad Greenway, who are No. 1 and 2 in tackles in the Big Ten, respectively. Hodge had 16 tackles and Greenway had 10 tackles against the Gophers last weekend.
Asked about who is an impact player on Iowa’s defense, UW offensive coordinator and running backs coach Brian White stated, “Thirty-three. Bob Sanders. Great football player.” Sanders, Iowa’s senior defensive back, has forced six fumbles this season.
With the assistance of Sanders, the Hawkeyes stopped the nation’s leading rushing offense (303.9 yards a game) to 175 yards. This is something the Badgers’ offense might want to focus on.
The Badgers are second in the Big Ten in rushing, running for 188.4 yards per game. Iowa’s rush defense is third in the Big Ten, allowing 88.8 yards per game on the ground.
The Badger passing game is fifth in the conference, throwing for 221.5 yards per game. The Hawkeye passing defense is sixth in the Big Ten, allowing 220.2 yards per game.
On the rushing side, something will have to give for either team. If the Hawkeyes allow the Badgers to rush over them like UW did against the Spartans, Wisconsin will likely come up with the win. However, if the Hawkeyes stop the Badgers’ running game like they did against the Gophers last week, it will probably be Iowa’s day.
With a win against Iowa, UW head coach Barry Alvarez will become the first coach in Wisconsin Badgers’ history to win 100 football games.
