3 quick takeaways from Badgers dominating win over Michigan State: Colton Joseph has a day on the ground
· Yahoo Sports
The Wisconsin Badgers cruised by the Michigan State Spartans 31-3 on Saturday, improving to 4-1 as they had another strong start en route to a double-digit victory.
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Wisconsin entered the game as a 9.5-point favorite, and their offense scored on each of their first three drives, with two of them going for 13 and 16 plays. But the defense stood out again, limiting Michigan State to just 108 yards in the air.
As a result, the Badgers are 4-1 and could be ranked come Sunday in the new AP Top 25.
Here are three takeaways from Wisconsin’s dominating win over Michigan State on Saturday.
The QB run game breaks out
Over the last two weeks, I’ve shared my thoughts that the quarterback run game would start to break out as Big Ten play came out. Preserving Colton Joseph’s legs early, especially after he got dinged up in Week 1, was a solid move from Luke Fickell and Co., and we saw the run game finally break out on Saturday.
Colton Joseph led the team in rushing, going for 141 yards and a touchdown, as the Badgers ran for 228 yards on 5,4 yards per carry. The quarterback run is why the floor of this offense was going to be better in 2026, even if the passing game remained shaky with Joseph’s inconsistencies.
It was a similar story on Saturday. Joseph wasn’t sharp through the air, struggling with some misses and near interceptions. But for the second straight week, it didn’t matter as he made other winning plays, this time on the ground, while the team played great complementary football around him.
Now, of course, the Badgers will need to make sure their quarterback is healthy, but Joseph was very efficient on his touches on Saturday, and the Badgers offense started to churn better on the ground.
Wisconsin built its identity running the ball on Saturday, totaling 42 carries in the game. They really looked to impose their will early, as they ran the ball 13 times to five passes in the first quarter on their two touchdown drives.
Going forward, the Badgers will need the quarterback run as their pass game continues to improve. We saw Joseph’s big-play ability come to life in a big way on Saturday.
Domination in the trenches
Playing against a short-handed Spartans team, the Badgers dominated on both sides of the trenches.
On offense, they were able to run the ball at will and did so often, running behind a good offensive line performance. Wisconsin shook things up on the line, starting Kevin Heywood at left tackle and Emerson Mandell at right tackle, while PJ Wilkins went to the bench. Even after an injury to starter Austin Kawecki, the Badgers were in control up front.
Defensively, though, Wisconsin was dominant up front. They controlled the Michigan State run game well enough to force tougher third-and-fourth downs, and the pass rush came alive behind another strong performance from Sebastian Cheeks, who has been one of the best pass-rushers in the country this season.
The Spartans ran for just 2.8 yards, while their passing game averaged just 3.2 yards per pass attempt.
Wisconsin had two sacks, but they got six quarterback hits, while Cooper Catalano and Mason Posa combined for 19 tackles.
Wisconsin needed to take care of business against a weak Michigan State offensive line, and they did just that, improving as the game went on.
Money downs
Wisconsin’s third-down defense has been good this season, and they were quite good again there on Saturday. The Badgers held Michigan State to 5 of 18 on third downs, even as the Spartans had a regular distance to go of under 5.0 yards.
To top it off, the Badgers were even better on fourth downs, forcing five turnovers on downs, as the defense showed up in a big way to force some major stops.
Wisconsin’s defense has had a knack for making plays on key downs, which was the way they won last weekend as well, and the defense was strong on all levels on Sunday.
The pass rush got there, the linebackers were all over the ball, and the secondary broke up eight passes, while holding Alessio Milivojevic to 15 of 32 passing for just 103 yards.