The Best Wisconsin Football Games by Week: Week Four

MADISON, Wis. – The Big Ten will be back in late October, but that still leaves a lot of fall Saturdays without college football in the Midwest. To fill that void, BadgerBlitz.com is turning back the clock to pick the best/most meaningful Wisconsin regular-season games each Saturday.

To make it more interesting, we’re picking the best games of a specific week: the best season openers, the best week two games, week three, etc, of the modern era (since 1947). Some weeks won’t be a fair fight, as the number of games has increased over that time (nine games until 1965, 10 games until 1971, 11 games in 1997 and mostly 12 since) with the addition of more nonconference games, but the impact these games had for Wisconsin can’t be disputed.

Our pick for Wisconsin’s best week four game of the modern era: September 24, 2016, at No.8 Michigan State.

RELATED: WEEK 1 | WEEK 2 | WEEK 3

Wisconsin’s coaches, players and program were riding high after knocking off No.5 LSU in the opener at Lambeau Field. Not only did it vault the Badgers from unranked to No.10 nationally, it thrust Wisconsin into the national title discussion. Not surprisingly, the next two weeks didn’t live up to the season-opening hype. UW cruised past Akron but strangely struggled to put away Georgia State in the nonconference finale, needing a fourth-quarter comeback to survive an embarrassment.

Dropping two spots to No.11 in the Associated Press poll, the Badgers embarked on a Big Ten schedule that had them scheduled to play five ranked teams in a row, including four in the top 10, and starting at No.8 Michigan State.

“I’m excited,” cornerback Sojourn Shelton said. “You can be nervous, but you can’t run. It is what it is. Next week you are starting off with one of the powerhouses in the Big Ten, the team that won the Big Ten last year and was able to experience what we’re trying to one day be, which is the college football playoffs. I’m excited and I know everyone in that locker room is excited.”

To complicate matters, the Badgers were heading into the game with a new quarterback under center. Having played in the second half of the previous two games, redshirt freshman Alex Hornibrook apparently showed the coaches enough to warrant him getting the start over fifth-year senior Bart Houston. The move was supposed to be kept quiet, but Hornibrook – unaccustomed to media interviews – blurted the news out four days before the game.

Michigan State – despite having to replace a starting quarterback, three offensive linemen and three defensive linemen – was 2-0 and vaulted up the polls after a 36-28 win over at No.18 Notre Dame the week before in an energy-charged night game. UW didn’t know it then, but the Spartans weren’t ready for Wisconsin, Hornibrook and a noon kickoff.

Hornibrook answered the question of how he would handle his first road start after taking care of two patsies at home, helping the offense score 23 points in a 30-6 beat down of No.8 Michigan State in front of 75,503 stunned fans at Spartan Stadium.

Senior tailback Corey Clement ran for two touchdowns and the defense forced three turnovers. The Badgers had only beaten two top-10 teams in a season three times in school history, not having accomplished the feat since 1962, but these Badgers did it in a four-week stretch.

Wisconsin led 13-6 at halftime thanks to the arm of Hornibrook, who went 10-for-17 for 121 yards. He committed a fumble on his first drive and an interception on his last, but in between went 5-for-6 on third down for 81 yards on four first downs. More importantly Hornibrook led the offense to two touchdowns on two trips to the end zone. Finishing 9-for-12 for 136 yards on third down (and throwing for 195 yards overall), Hornibrook’s ability to move the offense was more than enough thanks to Wisconsin’s defense, which shut down a Spartans’ attack that put up 35 points at Notre Dame the previous week. Even more impressive, Hornibrook went 6-for-6 with four first downs when UW was in third-and-10 or longer.

Of Michigan State’s 11 drives, only three went more than 20 yards and none made it to Wisconsin’s red zone, as UW swarmed Michigan State and finished with four sacks, seven tackles for loss, seven quarterback hurries and a defensive touchdown.

“He’s a guy loves being a part of this team, is a tremendous worker and think that he has a skill set that’s pretty good. The thing I love about him is he’s consistent and he works.”

- Wisconsin head coach Paul Chryst on Hornibrook

To be candid, the week four game between No.2 Wisconsin and No.5 Purdue in 1954 probably should have been the pick, a game in which Wisconsin’s Billy Lowe had a 98-yard interception return in the second half to help push the hosts to a 20-6 victory. UW knocking off No.6 Penn State in State College for the 1995 Big Ten opener was another decent pick, but this win had a ripple effect for three seasons – good and bad – for the Badgers.

Even though he didn’t regain that magic from East Lansing, Hornibrook was the primary starter for the Badgers for the remainder of the season and won the job outright for 2017, a season in which UW won its first 12 games and Hornibrook was the MVP of the Orange Bowl. There were even higher hopes for Hornibrook entering his 2018 junior season, but the inconsistent play and interceptions persisted. Concussions eventually led him to be sidelined and he eventually transferred to Florida State. However, that cleared the way for current starter Jack Coan, who in part used that starting experience to lead the Badgers to the Rose Bowl last year.

Even though Michigan State turned out to be terrible and finished 3-9 that season, that victory gave the Badgers a huge confidence boost. After one possession losses at No.4 Michigan and to No.2 Ohio State in overtime, the Badgers won their final six games – including one in overtime against No.7 Nebraska – to make the Big Ten title game. Winning the Cotton Bowl set the stage for UW’s near undefeated run in 2017 and has put the Badgers annually in the preseason conversations of who are the best teams in college football.