Badger D throttles 'The U' for an exciting 20-14 win

If you don't have any nails left after this one, don't worry you are not alone. The Badgers and the Canes gave us a game tonight that reminded us why we cherish the Bowl Season so much. Almost the entire game, each play was a quality effort from the 2 sides with very little sloppiness.

The story for much of the second half was Wisconsin's ability to move the ball to around the Miami 30 or further and then stall. They did that with some hard runs but also largely due to Scott Tolzien's ability to hit his TE s at key moments. With the likes of Travis Beckum (now a NY Giant), Garrett Graham and Lance Kendricks coming out of Madison, they may soon inherit the tag of 'Tight End U' to go with Linebacker U for PSU and 'Cradle of QBs' for Purdue. In all the TE s had 13 receptions for just over 200 yards. The WR 's by contrast had 8 receptions.

While Wisconsin was able to move the ball they either stalled around the Miami 30 and punted away or in 1 critical drive, lost the football in the endzone for a touchback. The Wisconsin D meanwhile was virtually living in the Miami backfield making life hell for Jacory Harris. With about 6 min left in the 4th quarter, Miami had 67 yards of offense in the second half.

But they were down 2 scores and the fumble by Graham recovered by Miami in the endzone gave them renewed life. They marched down the field methodically in 10 plays and scored. Jacory Harris for the only drive of the day had a clear well-defined pocket and he made the most of it.

And then with 1:22 left on the clock and with Wisconsin's ability to chew clock, Miami went for the onside kick ... and recovered.

In the ensuing drive though, the Wisconsin D again did what they had done for the whole game - splattered the Miami offensive line like popcorn and forced 4 straight incompletions. Scott Tolzien went into victory formation and we know that in line with that gr8 Badger tradition, the 5th quarter will be played in the pubs and bars of Orlando tonight.

This was in some ways a statement game for the Big 10. Bielema's squad represents some of those basic Big 10 skills - Solid defense, ability to run the football and control clock and lack of razzle dazzle gadget plays. And they won with it. And they won over a squad that is the cynosure of the media's eyes many of whom had already given Miami a 10 win season. Congratulations Brett Bielema and all ye Badgers : You represented the conference very well tonight. Watch out for them in the Big 10 next year.

As for Miami, yes - speed kills. But speed has to be unleashed in the open field. Virginia Tech, North Carolina and now Wisconsin have shown conclusively that without good line play, teams will not let the QB set his feet and throw and tackle the runner in the backfield. Hopefully we can adopt the same gameplan when the Canes visit Columbus seeking revenge for their loss in 2002. I am heading to Church St here in downtown Orlando and party (play 5th quarter) with the Badgers to celebrate the Big 10 going 1-0 in the postseason. Its going to be another good day of bowling tomorrow.