The University of Wisconsin football team will take on the Miami Hurricanes in New York City for the Pinstripe Bowl Dec. 27. The game will be an unexpected rematch of last year’s Orange Bowl where the Badgers.
Each of these programs had a similar path to this bowl game. Both had high expectations with top 10 preseason rankings and both disappointed significantly earning only seven wins on the season.
Junior Alex Hornibrook will start the game for Wisconsin after having what was perhaps the worst performance of his career to end the regular season against Minnesota. Hornibrook went 22-33 with 187 yards, two touchdowns and three interceptions in the 37–15 loss to the Golden Gophers — Wisconsin’s first loss against Minnesota in 15 years.
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Miami’s quarterback situation hasn’t been phenomenal either. A month into the season freshman N’Kosi Perry took senior Malik Rosier’s starting job. Perry was a four-star prospect coming into college and Miami head coach Mark Richt had high expectations for the quarterback coming into the season, but the results haven’t shown yet.
On the year, Perry has 13 touchdowns and five interceptions while completing 52 percent of his passes. In his final game, Perry was almost non-existent in Miami’s 24–3 win over Pittsburgh, going 6-24 with 52 passing yards and zero touchdowns.
Without significant production from the quarterback position, both teams have had to rely heavily on their run games.
Lost in disappointing year for Badger football, Jonathan Taylor ready to finish historic season
For the Badgers, star back Jonathan Taylor is currently at 1989 yards and 15 touchdowns. Taylor’s season is already the fourth-best yardage wise among Wisconsin backs behind Ron Dayne’s 1996 season and 1999 season as well as Melvin Gordon’s 2014 season. But the sophomore could pass Dayne with a performance greater than 120 yards.
Miami’s run game was led by Travis Homer and Deejay Dallas. Homer was the lead back with 969 yards and four touchdowns while Dallas complimented him with 609 yards and four scores.
The game will take place Dec. 27 at 4:15 p.m. from Yankee Stadium with live coverage available on ESPN.
