Notebook: Semar Melvin, Caesar Williams step up vs. Minnesota

MINNEAPOLIS -- Inside the visitor post-game media area, true freshman Semar Melvin received embraces from fellow cornerback Faion Hicks and center Tyler Biadasz.

When Melvin first spoke with BadgerBlitz.com, Hicks wrapped his arms around him, and a huge smile grew across his face.

“It’s all love," Melvin said with a laugh later in the interview. "Me and Faion, we’re from the same place. We’re from Florida, so you know we already got a connection. It’s all love. That’s what team is for. You just got to keep everything tight. Keep it in house, show major love.”

The first-year cornerback was thrusted into game action on the road in what became the biggest game of the season. Melvin, in his first career start, responded well after an early blip to help Wisconsin defeat Minnesota, 38-17, Saturday inside TCF Bank Stadium.

With sophomore Rachad Wildgoose not traveling with the team due to what UW officially called a left leg injury, Melvin worked alongside Hicks and Caesar Williams to start the game in nickel coverage.

“Throughout the week, I was repping with the ones so I was getting prepared all week for the opportunity," Melvin said. "Had to take advantage of it. First start in college, so I wanted to make it a great one.”

Adversity would hit early on during Minnesota's first offensive series, however.

Lined up opposite of Gophers wide receiver Rashod Bateman -- who came into the game averaging 20 yards per reception with 10 touchdowns -- it appeared Minnesota faked a bubble screen to the right. On the outside, Bateman faked a block, then accelerated towards the center of the field.

Melvin bit on the move, then slipped as the receiver sprinted to his inside and reeled in what would be a 51-yard touchdown pass to ignite the crowd and give Minnesota an early lead.

According to Williams, Wisconsin was playing in a Cover 4 coverage.

“Us being the run-stop defense that we are, we don’t want to allow anything. He triggered up and Rashod just ran free," Williams said. "That’s how a lot of their yards have come this season just running free, and we gave them that. We’ll learn from it, and we’ll get better from it and just stick with our man. If we got to give up a 10-yard bubble, then we’ll give up a 10-yard bubble. We just learn from it. We’d rather give up a 10-yard bubble than a 60-yard touchdown.”

After the game, however, Melvin made no excuses about the play.

"I just got to get better and grow from it, but they told me as a DB, you always got to have short-term memory, so that’s what I had," Melvin said. "I had short-term memory, my teammates picked me up, my coaches picked me up, and they told me to keep my head in the game.”

That short memory helped Melvin recover for the rest of the game, drawing a compliment from head coach Paul Chryst about playing well thereafter. According to PFF, Melvin graded out at 63.2, the same as Hicks and tied for second best among Wisconsin's secondary in the win. He officially recorded one tackle and one pass break-up, though Melvin was also credited with a late pass interference during in the victory.

"Him having a short memory allowed him to make plays later on in the game," Williams said. "Playing DB, you got to have a short memory because if you let that nag you, play after play, you might get beat and beat, and your confidence will go down. Playing defensive back, you got to have probably the highest confidence on the team, the most swagger on the team, just knowing that you’re that guy.”

Melvin believed he responded well but also noted there is room to improve.

“Even when the play happened, I just didn’t lose confidence," Melvin, who has now played in three games this season, said. "I had to keep my composure and just be the best me possible.”

Minnesota knocked on the Wisconsin goal line early in the fourth quarter with UW leading 24-10. After inside linebacker Chris Orr stopped Rodney Smith for no gain on second down on the Badgers' four-yard line, Wisconsin's defense needed to step up with two critical plays to stop its rival from bringing the game back to within one possession.

However, Wisconsin bent but did not break and forced a turnover on downs. That was largely due to two huge pass break-ups on consecutive downs by Williams against standout wide receiver Tyler Johnson on balls thrown by quarterback Tanner Morgan.

That added to a big day for Williams, who also recorded his second career interception that led to UW's offense getting points on the board. According to the redshirt junior, he saw Minnesota head coach P.J. Fleck "crouching on the sideline."

“He was looking at me and his No. 1 receiver so it just gave me another sense just to lock in, keep my eyes on my man, he’s not catching the ball on me," Williams said. "I just played my heart out for these guys, I played like it was my last game. Just whatever we had to do to get a win, and me doing that, it allowed me to make a couple of plays.

"Me looking at P.J. Fleck and giving him a head nod also gave me a boost of self esteem, like, ‘I’m ready for it. I’m ready for your one-on-one matchup. This your guy, I’m ready to stop him.’”

Did Fleck respond to that head nod?

“I didn’t see any response from him," Williams said. "It was kind of undisciplined by me just to look to the side as the quarterback is doing his cadence. I’m looking at where he’s looking at and I just kind of gave him a head nod, so it’s kind of undisciplined by me but it also gave me a boost in confidence -- because knowing that he wants to try me, and ‘Let’s go.’”

After those two break-ups on third and fourth down, UW's offense took charge and officially set the anchor in Minnesota's boat for the rest of the game, going 96 yards that ended with a Jonathan Taylor rushing touchdown. That gave UW a 21-point advantage.

Johnson and Bateman finished the game with a combined 14 passes for 236 yards and two touchdowns. Morgan eventually finished the game with 296 yards but completed just 20 of 37 passes. However, 96 of those yards through the air came in mop up time. After Williams' plays early in the fourth quarter and the subsequent score, another Badgers' takeaway on the Gophers' next offensive possession led to Taylor's second rushing score to make it a four-touchdown lead.

Update, Dec. 4: Correctly updated Morgan's stats to 20-of-37 passing.