The Wisconsin Badgers (2-1, Big Ten) rebounded from a disappointing loss with a 66-7 win at home against the New Mexico State Aggies (0-4).
Led by quarterback Graham Mertz’s 251 passing yards and three touchdowns, the Badgers rolled past the Aggies Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium. The Badgers finished with a total of 595 yards on the day, with 335 in the air and 260 on the ground.
Though the large gap in competition levels makes it hard to judge much in this game, the Wisconsin offense looked sharp, and Braelon Allen continued his solid start to the season with 86 yards and three touchdowns on 15 carries.
Wide receiver Skyler Bell led all pass catchers with 108 receiving yards and two touchdowns on four catches. Senior running back Isaac Guerendo had a solid afternoon with 12 carries for 74 yards and two touchdowns.
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Allen began the scoring for the Badgers with a 39-yard touchdown run just 90 seconds into the first quarter. He then followed up with two more short rushing touchdowns later in the second quarter.
After a 2-yard touchdown from running back Chez Mellusi and a nice 18-yard touchdown pass to sophomore receiver Keontez Lewis, the Badgers built a 35-0 lead at halftime.
The second half was full of firsts for the younger players on the team. Skyler Bell found the endzone for the first time in his young Badger career with a 49-yard reception from Mertz. He followed it up with a second touchdown grab later in the third quarter on a nicely-placed pass from Mertz to make it 49-0.
Guerendo mixed in two rushing touchdowns of his own, and the Badgers extended their lead to 63-0.
After Mertz’s day was done, freshman Myles Burkett was the first off the bench for the Badgers. He finished four out of five passing for 84 yards. Burkett looked comfortable on the field in his second career appearance and gave Badger fans something to be excited about for the future. Burkett looks good in the cardinal and white and fans will hopefully see more of him throughout this season.
Redshirt freshman Deacon Hill relieved Burkett and made his first appearance in Badger uniform late in the third quarter. Burkett dropped back to pass only once in the game and was promptly sacked for a 10-yard loss.
Something worth noting on the Badger offensive line was that they rotated players in at right guard and right tackle for the first time all season. Sophomore Trey Wedig rotated into right tackle and Tanor Bortolini played right guard at times. The offensive line struggled greatly against Washington State last week. But some success in the early going against New Mexico State allowed coach Bob Bostad to rotate players in and out of that right side of the line.
The Wisconsin defense held the Aggies to just 242 yards of total offense and had three interceptions, including an impressive one-handed interception from Ricardo Hallman in the first quarter. Sophomore Jake Chaney also had an interception in the second half, which especially fired up the sideline.
The defense finished with eight tackles for loss, including one sack from Nick Herbig. They allowed a total of 118 yards rushing but just 3.3 yards per carry. The secondary played great and only allowed 124 yards in the air on 10-30 passing from the New Mexico State quarterbacks. This Badger defense did a fantastic job of stopping the Aggies from getting into a rhythm on offense and it was another great Wisconsin defensive performance.
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One thing that stood out greatly from their recent loss to Washington State was the number of penalties the Badgers committed. But that wasn’t the case in this game — they only committed four penalties for a total of 50 yards. Though the game wasn’t mistake-free, the team seemed more composed and made fewer mental mistakes on the field.
With both sides of the ball finally clicking, the Badgers are beginning to get into a groove as they look ahead to conference play. Badger fans should be happy about this performance, especially given that the team came just four points short of tying the Wisconsin scoring record.
Next up, the Badgers are headed to Columbus, Ohio, to take on the Ohio State Buckeyes. It should be a tough matchup where the Badgers enter as heavy underdogs. But don’t be surprised if the Badgers can make it interesting following the win this weekend. The game will take place at primetime Saturday night, and hopefully, the team can make some noise following the win this weekend.
