Nebraska kept it close at times, but Wisconsin pulled away for the dominant 41-24 win at Camp Randall Stadium.
Wisconsin couldn't shake Nebraska early on as both teams knocked in some field goals. Wisconsin held a 6-3 lead early in the second quarter.
Wisconsin started pulling away after that. The Badgers extended its lead to 13-3 in the second quarter on Jonathan Taylor rushing touchdown. Late in the second, quarterback Alex Hornibrook found tight end Jake Ferguson for another touchdown to give Nebraska a 20-3 lead going into halftime.
Wisconsin out possessed Nebraska by 8 minutes in the first half by the way of a strong rushing attack. The Badgers totaled up 130 yards on the ground.
It was quite the opposite for the Huskers. The team only ran the ball eight times in the first half, of which six were from quarterback Adrian Martinez. Running backs Devine Ozigbo and Maurice Washington combined for two carries for nine yards.
The Huskers tried to make some noise in the second half as the Huskers started with the ball. Martinez wasted no time in finding JD Spielman for a 75 yard touchdown pass in the first minute of the third quarter. Nebraska trailed 20-10.
Spielman found himself open a lot tonight, bringing in nine catches for 209 yards and a touchdown.
The Badgers took 34-10 after a couple of rushing touchdowns from Badgers running backs Taiwan Deal and Jonathan Taylor. Nebraska's response was when Martinez found tight end Jack Stoll on a 12 yard jump ball catch for the touchdown. Nebraska trailed 34-17 late in the third quarter.
In the fourth quarter, Wisconsin extended its lead to 41-17 off an 88 yard rushing touchdown. Taylor had a monster stat night on the ground with 24 carries, 221 yards and three touchdowns.
That would be the exclamation mark and final score.
Adrian Martinez had himself a game on a night where the Huskers abandoned the running game. The true freshman went 24 of 42 for 384 yards and two touchdowns. Spielman had a healthy portion of those yards, but wide receiver Stanley Morgan also had eight catches for 93 yards.
The Huskers ran the ball 24 times tonight. Running backs Devine Ozigbo and Maurice Washington had only had a combined 10 carries for 56 yards by the end of the game.
Nebraska's next game is next Saturday, October 13 on the road against Northwestern. After that the Huskers are at home the next two weeks for Minnesota and Bethune-Cookman respectively.
