Every college football fan in America knows Wisconsin likes to run the ball. But the Badgers took their ground game approach to another level during Saturday's 62-14 trouncing of Indiana.
Wisconsin rushed 64 times and passed on just seven occasions (90.1 percent running plays) with Curt Phillips making his first career start at quarterback. The Badgers have had plenty of run-heavy game plans this season, although nothing like what we saw on Saturday.
Against Minnesota, Wisconsin ran 54 times and passed 15 times. Against Purdue, the ratio was 57 rushes to 21 passes, and it was 45 rushes to 16 passes against Utah State. For the season, Wisconsin has called run plays 67.5 percent of the time.
Hey, as long as it works, nobody is complaining. Wisconsin improved to 7-3 overall and 4-2 in the Big Ten to clinch a spot in the conference championship game.
Handing out grades for Wisconsin's 10th game of the season:
Passing offense: C
It probably makes more sense to give an incomplete in this category because there was almost no passing offense to speak of. But given the small sample size, Badgers quarterback Curt Phillips did an adequate job.
Phillips, the fifth-year senior, completed 4 of 7 passes for 41 yards with one touchdown and no interceptions. He tossed a two-yard touchdown pass to tight end Sam Arneson that put Wisconsin ahead 14-0 in the first quarter.
Four players caught one pass each: tight end Derek Watt (17 yards), receiver Jared Abbrederis (14 yards), receiver Jordan Fredrick (eight yards) and Arneson (two yards). It's not much, but given the way Wisconsin ran the ball against Indiana, Phillips didn't have to do a whole lot.
Rushing offense: A-plus
Wisconsin's ground game absolutely annihilated Indiana on Saturday on the way to a record-breaking performance. The Badgers rushed for a school record 564 rushing yards to surpass the previous best of 551 yards set Nov. 16, 1974 against Northwestern.
Wisconsin also averaged 8.8 yards per carry and nearly broke the school record in that category. The Badgers averaged 9.1 yards per carry against Hawaii on Nov. 30, 1996.
From top to bottom, Wisconsin dominated in the running game. Senior Montee Ball carried 27 times for 198 yards with three touchdowns and crept within one score of tying the all-time NCAA career record. James White added 161 yards rushing and Melvin Gordon 96.
Ball and White went over 100 rushing yards in the same game for the third time in the last four contests. It is the third time this season a pair of running back teammates have rushed for at least 150 yards in the same game — a feat Ball and White also accomplished Oct. 20 against Minnesota.
Passing defense: B
Considering the number of passing plays Indiana uses and the speed at which the Hoosiers operate, Wisconsin did a pretty good job in slowing their attack.
Indiana quarterback Cameron Coffman completed 25 of 46 passes for 233 yards with two touchdowns, but he also threw two interceptions. Backup Nate Sudfeld, who has had some success this season against other teams, threw an incomplete pass and that was it.
Wisconsin cornerback Devin Smith recorded his third interception of the season and linebacker Conor O'Neill tallied his first career pick in the fourth quarter.
Indiana entered the day first in the Big Ten in passing yards per game at 299.9, so Wisconsin certainly took care of business. The Badgers ranked No. 33 in the nation in passing defense before Saturday and will move up the rankings.
Rushing defense: A-plus
Indiana rushed 23 times for a net total of 61 yards — or 2.7 yards per carry. It just doesn't get much better than that for Wisconsin.
The Badgers' run defense has been stout all season and has really been the one constant in every game. The quarterback situation has left the passing game in flux occasionally on offense, the running game stalled early when the offensive line struggled and Wisconsin's pass defense has been susceptible to big plays at times. But when the opposition tries running against the Badgers, it usually finds itself out of luck.
Wisconsin entered Saturday ranked 17th in the nation in rushing defense, allowing 108.1 yards per game. The Badgers lowered that total to 103.4 yards.
Special teams: B-plus
There were no gaffes to be found in Wisconsin's special teams play on Saturday, so the Badgers earn a solid grade. The most encouraging sign continues to be the progress of kicker Kyle French.
French made field goal attempts from 24 and 37 yards and is now 10 for 13 on the season. He also converted all six of his extra point tries, while backup kicker Jack Russell made the final two extra points. French has had his share of struggles, at times losing both his starting field goal and placekicking duties to Russell. But he has gotten stronger in both areas during the season.
Beyond French, there wasn't much that stood out for Wisconsin, good or bad. Drew Meyer punted three times for an average of 39.3 yards per kick. Jared Abbrederis returned two punts for 14 yards, although he didn't have much room to operate on those kicks.
Overall: A-minus
It's hard to find fault with very much when a team wins by 48 points and breaks the all-time school record for rushing yards in a game. Wisconsin looked as impressive as it has all season, and that's a good sign as the Badgers prepare to face both Ohio State and Penn State.
The biggest question mark has to be whether Curt Phillips can air it out for big plays when Wisconsin absolutely needs yardage on offense. The Badgers were hardly challenged against the Hoosiers, and the rushing attack was so good that Phillips didn't need to throw. Ohio State and Penn State will almost assuredly make Wisconsin work harder to score.
All in all, though, Badgers fans everywhere must feel pretty happy. Wisconsin is back in the Big Ten championship game for a second straight season with a shot at a third straight Rose Bowl appearance. Not too shabby.
Follow Jesse Temple on Twitter.
