The Wisconsin Badgers have officially secured bowl eligibility following their dominant 31-10 win over Rutgers.
Saturday’s win pushed them to 6-3 overall, including a 4-2 mark in Big Ten play. While Saturday wasn’t perfect, there are still plenty of positives to take away.
Dominant second half
In the first half, it looked like not much had changed from the past few weeks; this was still a team that was impressive on defense, but couldn’t consistently string drives together.
However, the final two periods saw the Badgers outscore the Scarlett Knights 18-0, thanks to two touchdowns, one in each quarter of the second half, combined with a field goal.
Ryan Hopkins delivered in his debut
Hopkins was given the nod under center after Old Dominion transfer quarterback Colton Joseph was benched following what
has been an up-and-down season. Hopkins had a few dicey throws, an interception that was ruled out thanks to a roughing the passer penalty, along with a fumble, but the freshman still compiled 241 yards and three touchdowns.
Defense played with a vengeance
No, Rutgers are not going to blow many teams out of the water, despite that Wisconsin still allowed just 255 yards and allowed a 30.1% third-down conversion rate. Per usual, the Badgers’ defense was the key in pushing Wisconsin to Luke Fickell’s second bowl game.
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This article originally appeared on Badgers Wire: Three takeaways from Wisconsin football’s 21-point victory vs. Rutgers
