The University of Wisconsin Badgers football team took on the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders on Saturday in an intense matchup in front of over 70,000 fans at Camp Randall.
Backup quarterback, sophomore Danny O’Neil led the Badgers after transfer Billy Edwards Jr. suffered a lower-leg injury early on in the opening matchup against Miami (Ohio).
O’Neil came into the Miami game and threw for 120 yards, one touchdown and an interception, leading the team to a 17-0 victory to open the season.
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The Badgers started slow in the first half against Middle Tennessee, punting on their first two drives and going down 3-0 thanks to a Blue Raiders’ 27-yard field goal.
Entering the second quarter, the Badgers woke up, driving down the field through O’Neil’s connection with senior transfer tight end Lance Mason. O’Neil floated a ball down the sideline, and Mason came down with it for a 34-yard gain, setting O’Neil up for a 3-yard touchdown pass to redshirt junior receiver Tyrell Henry, giving the Badgers the 7-3 lead.
The Badgers did not stop there, as the defense stepped up to swing the momentum right back to the home team. Redshirt freshman Omillio Agard turned on a dime to cut off a pass to the sideline by Blue Raiders quarterback Nicholas Vattiato, grabbing his first interception of his collegiate career.
“In some ways we’re counting on redshirt freshmen,” head coach Luke Fickell said postgame. “Omillio [Agard] is a guy that can make some plays … he might not be the biggest, but he doesn’t shy away from hitting and he made a big play.”
The interception set the Badgers up with great field position, allowing them to drive the ball 38 yards into the endzone. Redshirt sophomore Trech Kekahuna thought he got the touchdown catch on a 15-yard pass, but the officials overturned the play, ruling that he did not land in bounds.
The Badgers thought the touchdown came on the following play, where Mason dove for the endzone on another 15-yard pass, but the officials again ruled against the touchdown, saying he fell out of bounds at the one-yard line.
Finally, on the third try of asking, the Badgers got into the end zone with a 1-yard rush up the gut by redshirt freshman Dilin Jones, giving Wisconsin the 14-3 lead.
The half would not end there, however, as on the first play of the Badgers’ next drive, the Middle Tennessee defenders were able to tip the ball into the air and come down with the interception on the Wisconsin 11-yard line.
Middle Tennessee took full advantage of the opportunity, and scored their first touchdown of the contest only two plays later, narrowing the score to 14-10.
By halftime the stat sheet showed an even matchup, but Badgers led on the scoreboard, thanks to 137 passing yards on 15-for-18 passes by O’Neil. Senior Vinny Anthony II led the receivers with 50 yards on four catches, while Jones ran for 22 yards on eight carries.
“There’s a tale of two halves,” Fickell said postgame.
After a slow start by Wisconsin standards, halftime adjustments saw the Badgers come flying out of the gate in the third quarter, racking up 28 unanswered points and putting the game out of doubt.
The half started with a crucial defensive stop on fourth-and-1, thanks in part to an official review that overturned the Blue Raiders’ first down on the previous play.
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Following the stop, the Badgers run game took off, with sophomore Darrion Dupree getting his longest rush of the game for 14 yards. On the very next play, O’Neil and Kekahuna worked on some trickery, and Kekahuna’s end-around rush opened up a valley for the receiver to run through, eventually going 61 yards to the house to put the Badgers up 21-10.
The defense forced another short drive for Middle Tennessee, and again the Badgers flew down the field, this time through the air. O’Neil fired shots to Mason, Dupree and redshirt senior Jayden Ballard before handing the ball off to another receiver, Anthony, who took off for a 14-yard touchdown run.
With the score 28-10, Middle Tennessee felt the wind let out of their sails, and could not put together a long drive for the rest of the contest. Wisconsin, on the other hand, kept their feet on the gas, scoring on a 58-yard touchdown pass over the top to Ballard for his first touchdown as a Badger.
Wisconsin was not done scoring, either, as redshirt junior running back Cade Yacamelli would take over on the following drive. Yacamelli rushed three times for 13 yards before O’Neil would go back to the air, floating a ball 15 yards to Mason for his first touchdown as a Badger.
The Badgers lit up the stat sheet in the second half, as O’Neil finished with 283 yards for three touchdowns on 23-for-27 passing. Wisconsin also did a great job of distributing the football, as nine different players ran and ball and 10 different players recorded a catch.
Kekahuna ran for 61 yards on his touchdown rush and caught four passes for 28 yards for a total of 89 yards , while Mason caught seven passes for 102 yards and a touchdown. On the ground, Jones led the running backs with 36 yards and a touchdown.
Defensively, junior linebackers Christian Alliegro and Tackett Curtis racked up seven tackles each, with Alliegro taking two tackles for loss and Curtis adding a sack.
As a unit, the defense recorded five sacks for a 40-yard loss alongside the Agard interception to cap off a dominant showing by the Badgers.
Following Saturday’s matchup, the Badgers take a trip to Tuscaloosa to face the No. 21 Alabama Crimson Tide on Saturday, Sept. 13. Last season, the Badgers fell in a 42-10 defeat against the Crimson Tide, marking the largest margin of loss in the Fickell era.