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Back in Business: Braedyn Locke Shines in Badgers Victory

  • Post Author
    by Sports director
  • Post Date
    Mon Oct 07 2024

Johnny Raider – @johnnyraider29 – October 7th, 2024

Photo By Cameron Schneider ~ The Daily Cardinal

A picture perfect October day for football at Camp Randall Stadium set the stage for a much-needed win for the Badger football team. Wisconsin embarrassed the Purdue Boilermakers 52-6, executing the textbook definition of complimentary football for a full 60 minutes. An identity was finally established on offense, and the defense straight up bullied the Boilermakers, allowing just six points. Lots of great
performances, but here are just some of the standouts.

Braedyn Locke
What an absolute statement made by the young sophomore. The scrutiny Braedyn faced since
being thrown into action against the #1 Alabama Crimson Tide and the #11 USC Trojans was intense and sometimes uncalled for. Those doubters were silenced today as Locke lit up the stat sheets, completing 20 of his 31 passes for 359 yards and 3 touchdowns. In Locke's first two outings, he completed 13 of 26 passes. He took his checkdowns when the shots weren't open; he had time to process the field, and even with him throwing two interceptions, he never batted an eye. This can be a massive step in Braedyn's confidence, and he'll have a chance to snowball this performance with the badgers traveling to New Brunswick next Saturday in a game against a very good but beatable Rutgers team.

The Wide Receivers
To say these guys stepped up would be an understatement. A collective effort from everybody led to a total of 21 grabs for 361 yards and three scores; however, what if I told you one guy accounted for almost 40 percent of that production? Trech Kekahuna had his coming-out party on Saturday, hauling in 134 of those yards and two of the three total scores. That coming-out party was highlighted by his 69-yard grab, where he outscampered the Purdue defense with textbook YAC-tion. I would be remiss if I didn't mention Vinny Anthony and his historic day. Saturday's game was his second straight week of hauling in a 50-yard TD; he is the first badger since Jared Abbrederis in 2013 to have two 50+ yard TD catches in the same season. In total, he racked up 66 yards on two grabs with a score. The last notable performance was CJ Williams, the transfer from USC, as he caught four passes for 60 yards. This performance was much needed with a lot of key guys being down. It's a testament to the depth the badgers have in that room, and it has a bright future under this offensive regime.

Badger Defense
The last performance I want to highlight is the Wisconsin defense. Anytime you can keep your opponent out of the endzone, it's a great defensive day. It's especially impressive when your back is against the wall as a defense and you have to get a stop. The badger defense stood strong both times the Boilermakers made trips into the red zone, holding them to two short field goal attempts. The badgers were in the backfield for all 60 minutes, racking up three sacks and six tackles for a loss. With all this havoc being wrecked, the pass defense got to work, breaking up five balls and holding the boilermakers to just 11 grabs for a mere 117 yards. Jaheim Thomas stood out to me the most out of the entire group, tallying up 6 total tackles with a sack and a TFL. Overall, this defense should be proud of this performance and use the confidence built to stand up to the rest of the conference schedule.

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