A pair of wins overly lowly Big Ten foes had some jumping on the Indiana bandwagon late in the season. But, the real Hoosiers came out of hiding on Saturday, giving up 564 rushing yards in a 62-14 loss to Wisconsin Saturday afternoon.
With the win, Wisconsin ensured itself of a second consecutive trip to the Big Ten Championship Game in Indianapolis, while the Hoosiers must win out to become bowl eligible.
The Badgers set the tone early and never looked back. Montee Ball capped off an eight play, 69-yard drive with a 10-yard touchdown run just over five minutes into the first quarter. A short time later, Curt Phillips found Sam Arneson for a two-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-0 in favor of the Badgers.
After Kyle French tacked on a field goal early in the second, the Hoosiers clawed back late in the second when Cameron Coffman found Ted Bolser on six-yard touchdown strike.
But, running back James White brought the momentum back to the Wisconsin sideline for good when he found the paint on a 69-yard touchdown scamper in the waning moments of the first half, giving the Badgers a 24-7 edge at the half.
Wisconsin continued to pour it on with a multi-faceted run game in the second half, tacking on five more rushing touchdowns.
By the time the dust settled, Wisconsin accumulated 605 yards of total offense.
Phillips passed just seven times but completed four passes to four different receivers for a combined 41 yards and a touchdown.
Both Ball and White broke the 100-yard rushing plateau, the second time this season the tandem has accomplished the feat.
Ball finished the game with three touchdowns, leaving him just one shy of tying Travis Prentice’s career rushing touchdown record.
Wisconsin can win the Leaders Division outright with wins over Ohio State and Penn State to end the season.
