The Wisconsin Badgers (3-4, 1-3 Big Ten) fell to the Michigan State Spartans (3-4, 1-3 Big Ten) by a score of 34-28 in a back-and-forth double overtime thriller at Spartan Stadium.
The Badgers now fall to 1-1 under interim head coach Jim Leonhard. As for the Spartans, this was a huge boost of momentum to get back in the win column, as they entered the game on a three-game losing streak, including a 29-point loss to Ohio State the previous weekend.
Although Wisconsin was favored by 7 points heading into the game, it was anyone’s game. Both teams have had relatively disappointing seasons so far and were in desperate need of a conference win.
The Badgers entered the game shorthanded, with an abundance of inactives on both ends of the ball. They were especially thin at offensive tackle, as redshirt freshman Riley Mahlman was out with an injury, and former 5-star recruit Logan Brown was dismissed from the program following an incident at practice earlier in the week.
In a press conference, Coach Leonhard was asked how he planned to deal with these injuries and create a game plan heading into this game.
“You wish you had experience all around, but that’s not the reality of college football all the time, especially when injuries hit,” Leonhard said. “But guys just have to step up. I thought the preparation we had was great. We had a lot of confidence with the guys we had going into the game.”
Despite their smaller-than-usual roster, the Badgers came out of the gates ready to play. On the first series of the game, the Badger defense pressured and tripped up Michigan State’s quarterback Payton Thorne on third down, causing a quick three-and-out.
On their first drive of the game, Graham Mertz and the Badgers marched down the field quickly and eventually got it down to the 1-yard line. Soon after, running back Braelon Allen was able to punch it into the end zone to give the Badgers an early 7-0 lead.
On the next drive, the Spartans conducted a 14-play drive, but it resulted in nothing, as the Badger defense held strong to get a goal-line stand and force a turnover on downs.
However, just two snaps later, Mertz dropped back into his endzone, and the pocket collapsed. He tried to force a throw to tight end Jack Eschenbach, which got picked off by MSU. The Spartans were then able to find the end zone, as running back Jalen Berger, a former Badger, punched it in.
There wasn’t much action in the 2nd quarter beside another 1-yard TD run from Braelon Allen. Allen led the way for the Badgers to begin the game, finishing the first half with 83 yards and two touchdowns. The Badgers headed into halftime with a 14-7 lead.
The Badger offense went cold in the third quarter, as they couldn’t get anything going in the passing game. The MSU D-line was wreaking havoc for Mertz and the Wisconsin O-line. Compared to past years, this year’s Badger offensive line has been very shaky due to injuries and shifting players around.
“You’re getting some inexperienced guys into much bigger roles, and in some cases forced into getting more snaps than we’d probably prefer,” said Leonhard in the press conference. “But it’s always next man up.”
Coach Leonhard also gave credit to the talent and execution of the Spartans’ front seven.
“[Michigan State] ha[s] a very talented group that loves to rush the passer,” Leonhard said. “They did a really good job at showing consistent looks to Graham and our front, and ran multiple different things out of them, forcing a lot of miscommunication for our line.”
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Late in the third quarter, Thorne connected with MSU wide receiver Maliq Carr on a crossing route for a whopping gain of 72 yards. Spartans running back Elijah Collins eventually tied the game at 14-14.
Michigan State receivers Jayden Reed and Keon Coleman gave the Badgers secondary problems throughout the entire contest, forcing many missed tackles and racking up a ton of yards after the catch.
In a press conference, Badgers senior safety John Torchio reflected on the defensive unit’s overall performance and addressed their tackling struggles.
“It’s concerning in a sense that we need to get better at it, but we play Big Ten football, you’re gonna see great athletes anywhere you play, guys are gonna make you miss, but yeah we need to harp on that, and fix that,” Torchio said in the press conference.
Midway through the fourth quarter, Thorne threw a beautiful back shoulder throw to Coleman for a 27-yard touchdown, giving the Spartans their first lead of the game. The Badgers responded quickly, as Mertz rallied the troops down the field and threw a lofted pass to wide receiver Keontez Lewis in the back corner of the endzone on fourth and goal.
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The game was tied at 28, and the Spartans had a chance to pull off a two-minute drill and possibly kick a game-winning field goal. Although they were able to get into field goal range, coach Mel Tucker used his final timeout with 27 seconds left, and the Spartans field goal unit was forced to rush out onto the field on 4th down. The snap got off just in time but was dropped by the holder. The Spartans had missed their opportunity, and the game was headed into overtime.
On the first play of overtime, Michigan State ran a trick play in which Jayden Reed came in motion to receive a pitch, and he then threw it downfield to his fellow wide receiver Keon Coleman who went up and made a great catch in the end zone over Wisconsin’s Jay Shaw.
The Badgers had to score a touchdown to keep the game alive. Despite almost throwing a game-ending interception on Wisconsin’s first play, Graham Mertz found Chimere Dike across the middle who ran it in for a touchdown to tie the game at 28.
On the first play of double-overtime, the Badgers handed it off to Allen who was hit hard by a Spartan linebacker, which jarred the ball loose. Michigan State was able to recover it. All Michigan State needed at that point was a field goal to win the game. But on 3rd and 12, Michigan State made a risky decision to throw a 50/50 ball up to Reed on a go-route. Reed created a bit of separation from his defender and made a great catch in the end zone to win the game for the Spartans.
Spartan Stadium went crazy, as the Badgers hung their heads and headed into the locker room.
Leonhard believed that the main reason for the loss was a lack of execution down the stretch, specifically on the defensive side.
“The closer the game is, the more you need to execute,” Leonhard said. “We had too many coverage busts to create big plays for the [Michigan State] offense. We have to play better in the second half to close out close games, there’s no question.”
The Badgers return home next week, as they host Purdue in a vital Big Ten West matchup. This is a must-win game for the Badgers if they want to remain in contention for winning the Big Ten West or a bowl game appearance.
