He didn’t have to do much. In fact, he only threw 10 total passes on the day. But then again, any quarterback’s job becomes rather easy when his offense rushes for over 400 yards.
Senior quarterback Allan Evridge started things off on the right foot Saturday in his debut as the Badgers’ starting signal caller. He completed his first pass attempt on Wisconsin’s opening drive on a deep, floating ball to junior tight end Garrett Graham for a 20-yard gain — Evridge’s longest completion of the game. The drive ended on a three-yard play action pass to a wide-open Graham in the end zone, Evridge’s first touchdown pass in a Badger uniform.
“It felt good,” Evridge said. “Dropping back I thought, ‘Don’t yank the thing; don’t overthrow it,’ but it was a great sell by Garrett. It was all him and the line, and then it was just a pitch and catch.”
Evridge finished the day 7-for-10 for 75 yards with one touchdown and one interception, a pass intended for wide receiver David Gilreath in the end zone that head coach Bret Bielema called “ill-advised.”
“I made one bad throw, but it’s a learning experience,” Evridge said. “You need amnesia as a player, especially as a quarterback. You’ve got to forget about those things, but learn from the experience, learn from what you saw.
“They had everything covered up,” Evridge said of the interception. “The smart thing to do would be throw it out of the end zone, but you learn from it.”
Fortunately, Evridge’s coach was impressed with his overall performance.
“It’s a difficult job for Allan, being a transfer,” Bielema said. “His first year, he comes in as a non-scholarship player. His second year he’s in a battle with [Tyler Donovan] and really won the starting job and then pulled his [hamstring] and had to sit through all of last year with T.D. getting all the praise. For him to take the offseason and try and build a relationship with his receivers and do certain things off the field, he got several captain votes, so I think the kids respect him, admire him.”
They do.
“He definitely took control of the huddle,” Graham said. “He was relaxed, just like he is in practice. He did well, put the ball up for me to catch it, and luckily we came up with a touchdown.”
“I thought he played great,” center John Moffitt said of Evridge. “Obviously there was that tough pick in the end zone, but that’s what happens. I like his leadership in the huddle; he was always getting us going and he said himself, ‘This is on you guys, line; let’s go.’ I thought he did a great job today, especially leadership-wise.”
Leadership does not seem to be an issue for the Papillon, Neb. native.
“The part that we knew Allan was going to do was be able to manage the game,” Bielema said. “He put on a lot of calls at the line of scrimmage, which were good. I don’t remember one time during the course of the game where he made the wrong call as far as putting us in the correct play.”
Evridge’s productive adjustments at the line might have something to do with his ability to stay calm, even with 80,000 sets of eyes watching his every move.
“I’m a pretty calm person,” he explained. “One thing I always learned when I was little was keep the game between the white lines. I really didn’t notice the 80,000 [fans] until after a big play and on third downs for the defense.”
From a throwing standpoint, he wasn’t perfect. But overall, Evridge was happy with his ability to quarterback his team to victory.
“I handed off the ball alright,” he joked. “I was able to do that and just try and keep the guys going, build some camaraderie. Obviously I’d like to have that one [pass] back, but I think I did pretty well.”
