SPORTSMONDAY
MADISON —As Wisconsin
running back Jonathan Taylor gal-
loped free late in the first quarter,
shifting left, then speeding into the
free terrain of the secondary, it all
began to come into focus.
It was one play after Michigan punted
the ball back, two plays after a way-
ward pass floated over the head of
junior receiver Tarik Black and three
plays after an acrobatic catch by soph-
omore Ronnie Bell was inexplicably
nullified.
Taylor cruised into the end zone for a
72-yard score, extending the Wiscon-
sin lead to 14-0, and effectively pulling
the plug on a lifeless Wolver-
ines squad. At the time, the
sequence appeared to be
a momentous swing.
In hindsight, it
only expe-
dited
the
inevitable: a beatdown
which will linger for
the weeks and months
to come.
The Badgers followed
Taylor’s lead, riding 203
yards from the All-American
running back, and 359 rushing
yards overall, to a 35-14 drubbing on
Saturday afternoon.
“We just can’t play like this again,
cause we’re gonna get our butts
kicked every week,” said senior left
tackle Jon Runyan after the game.
“We just gotta be better.”
To attempt to pin down where it all
went wrong would be to descend
aimlessly into a black hole. Wiscon-
sin opened the game with an 11-play,
75-yard touchdown drive, and never
let off the gas. The Badgers scored
touchdowns on three of their next
five drives, going without a single
three-and-out the entire first half. The
Michigan offense countered with just
126 yards and two turnovers in the
first half. That was all she wrote.
As the half mercifully came to a close,
Wisconsin players paraded into the
tunnel, while the two teams barked at
each other. One side evoked swagger;
the other reeked of frustration. One
side owned the football field; the
other belonged anywhere but.
Both knew the second half served as
nothing more than a formality.
“When we went down 14, I looked
around at a couple players dropping
their heads and stuff,” said senior
tight end Nick Eubanks. “We’re going
to face adversity. It’s either going to
knock us down and keep us there or
we’re going to face it and tell it what’s
good.”
An offense that supposedly spent the
bye week reflecting and rebounding
from a disappointing start to the
season showed little evidence of the
sort. Michigan’s 0-for-10 showing on
third down marked the first time the
Wolverines failed to convert on third
down since at least 1995. After two
inconsistent performances to start the
year, Patterson completed just 6-of-16
passes in the first half for 96 yards and
an interception before being replaced
by junior Dylan McCaffery to start the
second half. The latter had to leave
the game with a concussion late
in the quarter. Neither evoked
any sense of command.
“I think of it, as a whole
group, we don’t have an
identity yet,” Eubanks
said. “It’s up to us
to find our iden-
tity even though
we’ve got a game
coming up next
Saturday. We’ve
got to find it
quick. We know
the type of sea-
son, this is a long
season. It’s a gut
check.”
The statistical out-
comes paint a picture
bleak enough. The defense
allowed 359 rushing yards,
its worst since a 42-13 loss to
Ohio State in 2015. Prior to two late
garbage-time touchdowns, the offense
mustered one drive over 21 yards —
and it ended in a fumble by junior Ben
Mason near the goal line on his first
carry of the season.
Still, the numbers cannot fully
encapsulate the scar this loss will
leave. Michigan has now lost its last 15
games on the road at top-15 oppo-
nents. It is 1-6 on the road against
ranked teams in the Jim Harbaugh
era, with Saturday’s just the most
recent in the line of lackluster perfor-
mances in big games.
And that the problems Saturday were
so frequent and pervasive means the
ultimate blame must be thrust at the
hands of one man.
As that figure — once larger than life,
now a shell of that — sat at the table
facing the media after the game, he
looked around for a moment, waiting
for someone to break the silence. Fi-
nally, provoked by a question, he said
the only thing he could.
“We were outplayed. Out-prepared
and outcoached,” Harbaugh said.
“Outplayed. The whole thing. Both
offensively and defensively.
“It was thorough.”
Max Marcovitch
Managing Sports Editor
Alexis Rankin / Daily Design by Jack Silberman
The Michigan Daily | michigandaily.com | September 23, 2019
Wisconsin 35, Michigan 14