BADGERS ROLL: Tawee Walker Breakout Day Leads to Dominant Badgers Victory

Johnny Raider – @johnnyraider29 – October 15th, 2024

Photo By Cameron Schneider ~ The Daily Cardinal

On a sunny and crisp day in New Jersey, the Badgers decided to turn heads and send a message to the rest of the Big Ten, crushing Rutgers 42-7. It looks like after four long weeks and a lot of scrutiny, the Badgers have finally found their identity on offense. Everything has clicked for Wisconsin as they combined for 549 total yards of offense and held Rutgers to 271.

A complete team effort and lots of big performances combined to get this win, but here are my top three standouts.

Running Game Shines
In my bold takes article, I claimed the Badgers would rush for 230 or more yards. They blew that prediction out of the water, rushing for 309 yards on 47 attempts, averaging 6.6 yards a pop, and five total TDs scored. Out of the whole group, Tawee Walker had 198 of those yards on 24 carries, crossing paydirt three times. Walker finally went over 20 carries and proved why he's worth having as the number one back. He wasn't the only one who balled out; Cade Yacamelli had 72 yards on just 4 carries, leading to his teammate Darrion Dupree scoring his first career touchdown. He himself had 26 rush yards on 10 carries, respectively. Overall, a big statement to get back to the old ways of Badger football.

Passing Game Rides Momentum
Another week of an above-average passing game for the Badgers, but definitely not as eye-popping as it was last week. Braedyn Locke put together a nice outing, completing 20 of his 28 passes for 240 yards with a TD and an interception. Not much compared to what he did last week, but still a massive improvement from his games against Alabama and USC, where he completed 50 percent of his passes both times. He had another successful day of finding arguably his favorite deep target Vinny Anthony twice for a team leading 81 receiving yards with both catches going for 40 yards. He also connected with Will Pauling on four occasions for 49 yards and a score after being banged up last week. Braedyn has to ride this wave through this week's opponent in Northwestern to be able to challenge #3 Penn State at Wisconsin's much anticipated homecoming.

Defense Stands up to Rutgers Rushing Attack
It was clear that if the Badgers were going to have a chance of winning this game, they would have to make QB Athan Kaliakmanis beat them with his arm. Throughout the entire ball game, excluding one drive in the third quarter, the Badgers swarmed anything the Scarlet Knights tried to throw at them. Kaliakmanis was forced to attempt 32 passes and completed just 13 of them for 103 yards and an interception. The famous Rutgers run game was kept fairly in check with 168 total yards and 1 trip to paydirt on 4.8 yards a pop. Overall, the badgers have held opponents to one touchdown in eight quarters. Overall, the unit put together a complete game and one to build on as the conference schedule continues.