‘We went at it’
Sojourn Shelton keeps Western Michigan’s hot wide receiver quiet.
Arlington, Texas — Wisconsin senior cornerback Sojourn Shelton accepted the challenge.
Whenever Western Michigan wide receiver Corey Davis would line up wide, Shelton’s job would be to shadow him.
Davis entered the 2017 Cotton Bowl with 91 receptions for 1,427 yards. He had 18 touchdown receptions, the No. 1 mark in the nation, and was averaging 15.7 yards per catch and 109.8 receiving yards per game.
The 6-foot-3, 213-ponder from Wheaton, Ill., who could be a first-round NFL pick, beat Shelton for a 22-yard gain on the Broncos’ first offensive play and an 11-yard touchdown on the Broncos’ final offensive play.
Davis was able to beat safety Leo Musso for two catches for 27 yards but finished with just six catches for 73 yards.
“I wouldn’t say it was difficult,” Shelton said. “He is definitely a great player. But when people say difficult ... we are both competitors. We are both good players.
“I see the reason why he will be a first-round pick. Tall guy. Big guy. Strong. Can run good routes and he is fast.
“I think if you ask him
about me, he’d say we both competed. We went at it, gave it our all and had fun doing it.”
Davis and Shelton were engaged in what looked like hand-to-hand combat on the 11-yard score, which allowed the Broncos to pull within 24-16 with 3 minutes, 27 seconds left in the game.
“He made a great play,” Shelton said. “You can’t take that away from him.”
Hornibrook’s quick mind: Redshirt freshman quarterback Alex Hornibrook was on the field for only two series Monday and attempted only two passes.
He showed a quick mind on his second throw, an 8-yard touchdown pass to tight end Troy Fumagalli.
UW faced third and 6 when Hornibrook surveyed the Western Michigan defense.
“At first I thought they were in man so I thought I’d hit Jazz on a quick crossing route,” he said referring to redshirt junior wide receiver Jazz Peavy. “But at the snap, they flipped to zone. I didn’t have time ... but I knew where Troy was going to be.
“So I just put it to the spot.”
Fumagalli slayed Western Michigan with six catches for 83 yards.
Afterward, Western Michigan coach P.J. Fleck made it clear Fumagalli was one player his defenders could not handle.
“I tell you what,” Fleck said, “that tight end, he’s unbelievable. I thought — we knew he was really good, right? But we don’t have some 6-3 safeties or anything really to contest with him . ...
“When you have a 6-6 tight end that has range like that, you got a quarterback as accurate as they have, two of them, that’s what happens. There were multiple catches he had that were contested, and we just didn’t come down it with.”
Stealing is good: Looking to kill off the final seconds and facing third and 6 on the Western Michigan 16, UW coach Paul Chryst and offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph pulled out a play the Badgers hadn’t run all season.
Heck, they didn’t have it in their playbook until recently. They added it after seeing another team run it successfully against Western Michigan.
Fullback Austin Ramesh lined up in the backfield, on a wing to the right. He came in motion to the left and appeared ready to block for tailback Corey Clement.
Instead, Ramesh darted left and took a handoff from Bart Houston. He scooted around left end for 10 yards and a first down to secure the victory.
“We just threw it in,” said Ramesh, who carried only once Monday. “It is safe to say that the guys in the huddle were the only ones who knew that was coming.
“I was ready to go and I knew it was going to be open. — It was a heck of a call.
“We really dialed that one up. We finished the game with the ball in our hands, which was nice.”
Jet sweep works: UW complemented its ground game with five jet sweeps from receivers Peavy and Quintez Cephus.
Cephus carried twice for 34 yards and Peavy gained 51 yards on three carries. He gained nothing on two of the three runs but had a 51-yarder to set up a field goal in the second quarter.
“We thought going into the game, the way they might fit some of our runs, especially in some of our heavier packages,” Chryst said, “that we might get something out of it.
“If not, just be able to threaten the perimeter to open up maybe some inside runs on it.”
Extra points: Andrew Endicott hit his lone fieldgoal attempt, a 30-yarder in the second quarter. Filling in for injured starter Rafael Gaglianone, Endicott finished 13 of 19 (68.4%). He finished 9 of 11 from 39 yards and in . ...
UW won a bowl game for the third consecutive season, having defeated Auburn in the 2015 Outback Bowl and USC in the 2015 Holiday Bowl. The Badgers had accomplished that feat just once before (1998-2000). UW defeated UCLA in the ’99 Rose Bowl, Stanford in the 2000 Rose Bowl and UCLA in the 2000 Sun Bowl . ...
UW ended Western Michigan’s overall winning streak at 15 games, which was the No. 2 active streak among FBS teams.