The Wisconsin Badgers had their most complete win of the season on Saturday, beating the Eastern Michigan Eagles 54-10 to score the most points of the Luke Fickell era.
It wasn’t a game that the Badgers were expected to lose, but we had been waiting for Wisconsin to show a complete performance after looking up and down through their first two games. After a slow start, the Badgers dominated, scoring on their final seven drives while forcing three turnovers and even getting their hands on a pair of
punts.
Wisconsin entered the game as over a three-touchdown favorite. It was expected that they’d win comfortably, but the Badgers disappointed relative to expectations in Week 2, when they were a 42.5-point favorite. In fact, some money came in on Eastern Michigan, with the spread dropping from 24.5 to 23.5 ahead of kickoff on FanDuel.
In addition, in our weekly Reacts post, a majority of voters believed Wisconsin would even fail to cover the spread.
Well, Wisconsin didn’t only cover; they nearly doubled the spread, winning by 44 in a strong all-around performance that has increased hopes heading into a tough matchup with the Penn State Nittany Lions on the road next weekend.
It was a good sign that the offense was able to get working in the air, as Colton Joseph threw for 362 yards, while the defense successfully stopped the run. They also made Noah Kim uncomfortable, as they picked off passes on back-to-back drives, while forcing a strip-sack fumble that Cooper Catalano returned for a touchdown.
Consistency and a strong start will be important next weekend, but it was a good sign that Wisconsin finally looked like the team it should be against a weaker opponent on Saturday.
