As they had done in periods throughout the game, Wake Forest quarterback Sam Hartman was getting his offense into rhythm. Looking to retake the lead, the Demon Deacons were on the move with an eight-play, 71-yard drive that had advanced from its own 1 to the UW 28.
Playing Cover 3 defense for an upcoming second-and-10, UW inside linebacker Jack Sanborn’s assignment was the tailback releasing from the backfield into the flat for a wheel route. Prior to the snap, Sanborn got an audible from outside linebacker Noah Burks, who felt better equipped to handle the coverage.
“I ended up being able to get the flat and (the pass) came right to me,” Burks said
The game’s first interception was a heads-up play from a veteran linebacker and one that helped turn the tide for Wisconsin. Starting with Burks, the Badgers defense ended four consecutive drives with an interception to prove the difference in a 42-28 victory over Wake Forest in the Duke’s Mayo Bowl in Charlotte, N.C.
“Guys were making plays everywhere and credit to Noah, because he flipped the momentum right there with that one play,” Sanborn said. “From there, I think it just took off.”
Giving up a season-high 518 yards, including 407 yards through the air, Wisconsin (4-3) was outgained by 252 yards but its defense generated 176 yards in interception returns that resulted in four short field and three red-zone touchdowns.
Through eight games, Wake Forest (4-5) had only turned the ball over three times with Wake Forest quarterback Sam Hartman having thrown one interception on 236 pass attempts. He gave him his respect, but cornerback Caesar Williams felt leading into the game that opposing defenses hadn’t taken advantage of Hartman’s mistakes.
Burks was the trendsetter. Feeling he was better equipped to handle the flat in zone coverage with the condensed splits of Wake Forest’s offense, Burks gave Sanborn a one-word audible to change the coverage. He was right, as Hartman’s screen pass looked intended for Burks and resulted in the senior returning it 41 yards to the WF 32.
“Definitely felt a lot of juice after that,” said Burks, as fullback Mason Stokke’s touchdown came two plays later. “Guys running out getting excited on the sideline, which is always great to see. Turnovers are such a huge momentum changer. To be able to bring that to our side of the ball was great.”
The next three series ended with plays Wisconsin’s players chalked up to film study. With the coaching staff having diagnosed that Hartman liked to throw a quick hook route against zones to No.1 receiver Jaquarii Roberson on short-yardage situations, the Badgers made the nickel corner force the receiver inside and started dropping a safety into the window.
The plan worked perfectly, as safety Scott Nelson jumped a route on fourth-and-four that he returned to the 2 (Garrett Groshek scored two plays later) and Sanborn grabbed his on first-and-10.
“We got a pretty good sense of where guys were going to be and we knew this game would rely a lot on the hook player being able to grab things on the hashes,” Burks said. “We were patient with it at first. Once the looks we wanted started showing up, you could see that guys were locked in because we were able to capitalize on top of that.”
Safety Collin Wilder followed with a swipe that was nearly identical to Nelson’s pick. Getting tackled on the WF 3, tailback Jalen Berger punched the ball in on the second play of the drive to make it 42-21 and send Hartman to the bench.
“It kind of felt like one just led to the other,” Sanborn said. “After three picks, we were all saying, ‘Collin, you got to go get one.’ And then Collin went and got one. That’s credit to everyone on the team, all the coaches. Wake Forest, they were doing a great job earlier in the game, but they were running a lot of the same concepts over and over. Credit to the film study of the players and the coaches for helping us, really giving us the opportunity to go out and make the play with where we should look, where our eyes should be.”
Locking in took time, as Wisconsin did not appear ready for Wake Forest’s tempo. On the opening drive, Badgers cornerback Faion Hicks was beaten badly on a crossing route for 36 yards on third-and-11, Hartman hit Taylor Morin for 12 and Roberson was wide open on third-and-goal for a four-yard touchdown after easily beating Donte Burton.
Unable to catch its breath after a three-and-out by its offense, Williams slipped on third-and-10 that allowed Morin to gain 46 yards and Roberson scored his second third-down touchdown when he broke tackles by Alex Smith, Eric Burrell and Nelson for an 18-yard touchdown. The Deacons also had a 20+ yard pass play taken away because of a pick play.
“It’s hard to practice to that, especially when your guys aren’t used to running that,” Burks said. “That was definitely one of the challenges with this team adjusting to the hurry-up tempo. We were doing a good job of getting them to third-and-long to start. We just weren’t able to execute.”
But after allowing Wake Forest to record 136 yards and two scores on 15 plays (9.1 yards per play) over its first two drives, the Demon Deacons averaged only 5.5 yards per play over their final 12 drives. After starting 4-for-4 on third downs, Wake Forest finished 3 of 12 on third down and 1 of 4 on fourth down.
“The second half was just a true team effort,” Sanborn said. “Special teams, offense, defense, everyone just all feeding off each other. To go out like this and really finish like this throughout a year it’s been so far says a lot about this team.”
