Spartans put up little resistance to Badgers, 31-3
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MADISON, Wis. -- Colton Joseph threw for three touchdowns and rushed for another score to lead Wisconsin to a 31-3 win against Michigan State on Saturday.
Jacob Harris rushed for two scores for the Badgers (4-1, 2-0 Big Ten), who have won four consecutive games.
Harris caught a 20-yard pass from Joseph during the game’s first series. The Badgers shaved 8:16 off the clock, going 75 yards in 15 plays, on their first-quarter scoring drive. The Badgers were 4 of 4 on third-down conversions on the opening drive.
Joseph and Harris revisited their connection for a second week, following a 72-yard score with 1:13 left that rallied Wisconsin to a 24-20 win at then-No. 13 Penn State.
Harris said beating Michigan State was proof that the Badgers are headed in the right direction.
“As great of a win as last week was, it does you no good if you don’t continue to build on it,” Harris said. “It wasn’t like we won the Super Bowl last week. As a good team, we won. It was a good team. In order for this team to get where this team has to go and will go, we have to be able to stack weeks and get better every week no matter what the result is.”
Joseph, a former Old Dominion quarterback, went 9-of-20 passing for 145 yards. He had 10 rushing attempts for a season-high 130 yards, making him the first Badgers QB to rush for at least 100 yards in a game since Tanner McEvoy ran for 158 yards against Bowling Green in 2014.
Liam Boyd kicked a 31-yard field goal with 9 seconds remaining in the first half to put Michigan State (2-3, 0-2) on the scoreboard at 17-3.
Three quarterbacks played for Michigan State. Alessio Milivojevic, the starter, was 15-for-32 passing for 103 yards.
Jaziun Patterson was the Spartans’ rushing leader with 18 attempts for 62 yards.
The Spartans failed to capitalize on a handful of Badgers’ penalties. Wisconsin accrued six penalties for 67 yards.
Michigan State has lost three straight games. The Spartans were 5 of 18 of third-down conversions and 1 of 6 on fourth down.
MSU coach Pat Fitzgerald said he was incredibly disappointed with the Spartans’ performance, especially with the conversion rates on third and fourth down.
“We weren’t good enough. It looks like we lost some one-on-one battles and looked like we had guys open at times and couldn’t get the ball. We win at receiver and lose at o-line or we win at o-line and lose at receiver and guys fall down. We’ve just got to get it to operate cleanly and 11 heartbeats as one.”
Michigan State hosts Illinois on Saturday, while after this weekend, the Badgers play at No. 23 UCLA on Oct. 17.
Wisconsin’s Colton Joseph, right, runs past Michigan State’s Devin Vaught to score a touchdown in the second half on Saturday in Madison, Wis. (AP photo)