UW Replay
AWARDS
PLAYER OF THE GAME
With Quintez Cephus suspended indefinitely because he faces sexual assault charges and Danny Davis serving the second of a two-game team suspension, UW needed a wide receiver to make big plays.
A.J. Taylor did that in the opener against Western Kentucky and again Saturday against New Mexico.
The junior caught five passes for 134 yards Saturday, an average of 26.8 yards per catch, and a touchdown. He converted third-down chances with catches of 28, 21 and 10 yards, with the third catch a touchdown to help UW take a 17-7 lead with 7 minutes 46 seconds left in the third quarter.
“He did a great job of getting open, especially downfield for us,” quarterback Alex Hornibrook said. “He had a good game. He’s done a good job just improving this whole time. He’s always been that guy we can depend on.” OFFENSIVE PLAY OF THE GAME
Was that Austin Ramesh on the field at fullback for UW?
His replacement, senior Alec Ingold, joked before the season that like Ramesh he had flashed the ability to leap over defenders.
Ingold, 6-foot-2 and 242 pounds, showed that ability on a 39-yard run to the New Mexico 18 in the second quarter.
He ran away from a defender a few yards past the line of scrimmage and then leaped over defensive back Jalin Burrell near the New Mexico 20.
“I saw the linebackers bite (inside),” said Ingold, who finished with 47 yards and a touchdown on four carries. “Seeing those linebackers bite and then taking it to the outside is all we needed.” Ingold wasn’t able to regain his footing and reach the end zone and the drive eventually ended on Jonathan Taylor’s fumble, but Ingold’s open-field run and leap energized the crowd in need of a lift.
“I was just trying to land it,” Ingold said, laughing.
Asked what score he would have gotten from the judges, Ingold smile and said: “Probably a 2.”
DEFENSIVE PLAY OF THE GAME Anyone who watched safety Scott Nelson during spring ball and later in preseason camp marveled at his ability to anticipate where the ball was going and then make the quarterback pay for any throw even slightly off the mark.
The redshirt freshman made one of the bigger plays in the game early in the third quarter with his first interception – three plays after Hornibrook’s lone interception allowed New Mexico to take over at the UW 26.
“Doing his job,” senior safety D’Cota Dixon said. “Doing what he is supposed to do. He got his first one.”
New Mexico faced third and 8 from the 24 when backup quarterback Sheriron Jones dropped back to pass but was under pressure from linebacker Andrew Van Ginkel.
Jones tried to hit wide receiver Elijah Lilly, covered by Dixon, down the right seam.
Nelson, read the play and broke quickly from the middle of the field toward the hash, intercepted the pass at the 2 and then gained 22 yards to the UW 24.
“I was reading off the quarterback’s eyes and I was in the post,” Nelson explained. “Coach Leonhard told us we’d have some opportunities to make plays. Read the quarterback’s eyes. Trust what you see. “He showed where he wanted to throw it.”
How big was the turnover? UW, which held a 10-7 lead at the time, drove 76 yards in just six plays for a touchdown to build the lead to double digits. SPECIAL TEAMS PLAY OF THE GAME Junior punter Anthony Lotti wasn’t overworked Saturday.
Lotti punted one time, early in the second quarter.
The punt likely will be a footnote in the victory but with the offense having just gone three-and-out and UW facing a 7-3 deficit, Lotti needed to prevent the Lobos from getting good field position. He did his job.
With UW facing fourth and 10 from its 21, Lotti boomed a 54-yarder to the New Mexico 25. The return was only 8 yards and UW’s defense then recorded a three-and-out.
The Badgers needed two more possessions to drive for the go-ahead touchdown but Lotti’s punt was good enough to slow New Mexico’s momentum.
INSIDE THE HUDDLE
New Mexico had consecutive runs of 3, 5, 6, 5 and 13 yards during its 17-play, 87-yard touchdown drive to open the game. According to several UW players, the Lobos ran more option than they had in the opener. In addition, when the Lobos had run the option, they generally had done so after motioning a receiver into the backfield before the snap. Early Saturday they lined up with the extra player in the backfield, which forced UW to adjust after the first series. “We had to make the adjustments based on the matchups, who (had) the quarterback, who (had) the pitch,” Dixon said. “Once we got that figured out, I don’t think they came back to it too much.” UW defenders insisted they didn’t make any changes after Jones replaced injured starter Tevaka Tuioti in the second quarter. New Mexico coach Bob Davie acknowledged the change hurt his team. “I’d like to see what would have happened if Tevaka would have played the whole game,” he said, adding backup Coltin Gerhart was out because of injury and Jones had missed time in camp because of a hamstring injury. “But that isn’t the way football goes. … We just lost our rhythm offensively once the quarterback went out.”
QUOTABLE
“One of the first words that popped into my head was fundamentals. … In traffic. Going down. Just two hands on the ball. Squeeze it.” – Jonathan Taylor, UW tailback, on his immediate thoughts when he lost a fumble in the second quarter.
BY THE NUMBERS
8 Jonathan Taylor rushed for a collegehigh 253 yards and thus became the eighth UW player to break the 250-yard mark
90.6% UW’s Rafael Gaglianone made his lone field-goal attempt and has made 29 of his last 32 attempts (90.6%) dating to the 2015 Holiday Bowl
124 Offensive yards for New Mexico on its final 37 plays, after gaining 87 on its first 17
417 Rushing yards for UW, the most since gaining 581 vs. Nebraska in 2014
NEXT
UW (2-0) hosts BYU (1-0) at 2:30 p.m. Saturday. The Cougars, who opened with a 28-23 road victory over Arizona, played at California late Saturday. BYU appears to be a much more formidable foe than the team UW routed, 40-6, last season in Provo, Utah. Head coach Kalani Sitake revamped his offensive staff after last season but the return to health of quarterback Tanner Mangum has proved to be the biggest difference. He completed 18 of 28 passes for 209 yards and a touchdown on the victory over Arizona.