From 67 yards to 233
Wisconsin opened the season with 67 rushing yards and a 41-13 defeat to then-No. 4 Notre Dame. Two weeks later the Badgers piled up 233 on the ground and beat Western Illinois 36-9. Eastern Michigan arrives in Madison on Saturday for Wisconsin’s last nonconference game before Big Ten play begins.
Abu Sama III set the tone against the Leathernecks. The Iowa State transfer took the opening snap 72 yards for a touchdown and finished with 107 yards on eight carries, an average of 13.4 per attempt. Quarterback Colton Joseph, named Sun Belt Offensive Player of the Year last season at Old Dominion, completed 12 of 22 passes for 173 yards and a touchdown.
“We played a really good football game,” Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell said. “We came out the way we wanted to come out. I think that’s where I was as impressed as anything.”
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Eastern Michigan keeps starting well and finishing badly
The Eagles (1-2) opened with a 28-17 win over Sacramento State. They then led San Jose State 21-17 going into the fourth quarter and lost 27-21. At Michigan State they trailed only 14-7 at the break before the game ran away to 35-7. Their lone touchdown that night came on a 13-play, 78-yard drive late in the first half.
The season averages track the pattern. Eastern Michigan gains 282.7 yards a game and concedes 398.7, a gap of 116 yards that no amount of fast starts covers over four quarters.
Noah Kim has completed 67 of 107 passes for 571 yards, three touchdowns and one interception. Harold Mack leads the receivers with 14 catches for 135 yards and a score, with Nick Devereaux and Joshua Long on 12 receptions apiece. Amareon Blue has run for 176 yards and a touchdown at 5.7 per carry, and Braydon Bennett has added 104 yards and a score.
What Creighton sees coming
Wisconsin won nine games across the previous two seasons combined, so the program visiting Madison this weekend is not the one that dominated the Big Ten trenches for two decades. Longtime Eagles coach Chris Creighton still expects a physical afternoon, and he is watching the quarterback as much as the running backs.
“In terms of Wisconsin, another really tough, physical program,” Creighton said Monday. “They’re going to run the football. Things really do kind of start with their quarterback, though. As an Old Dominion transfer, he can throw it, but he also runs the ball really well.”
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