Leading up to the big showdown between Wisconsin and Michigan, many people wondered about Wisconsin. They wondered if they were legit. If they were a top-five team in the country. If they just beat up on cupcakes, and this defense is not as good as the numbers said. All of those questions were answered in a major way with Wisconsin winning 35-14 over Michigan in a massive win for the Badgers. They planted their flag in the Big Ten conversation that they’re one of the best teams in the conference and college football. Led by Jonathan Taylor, Wisconsin had one of their more impressive victories in the Paul Chryst era.

Player of the Game: Jonathan Taylor – He is the best running back in college football. No questions asked from me. Taylor rushed for over 200 yards and two touchdowns with a 8.8 yards per carry average against Michigan. Even if Don Brown’s defense is not what it has been in years past, that is an impressive number for the Badgers running back. He thrashed the Wolverines for big carry after big carry. The biggest one of the day was the 76-yard house call he had in the first half putting Wisconsin up by 14 points. That set the tone for the entire game.

Jonathan Taylor is a bad, BAD manpic.twitter.com/xTTPmixq8K

— Barstool Sports (@barstoolsports) September 21, 2019

Honorable Mention: Badgers linebackers – Jack Sanborn and Zach Baun were monsters in this game. They looked inspired from watching the Smith bros up at Lambeau with the way they played on Saturday afternoon. The two nearly had identical stat lines. Sanborn did it up the middle while Baun did his work off the edge for the Badgers. They combined for 14 tackles, two sacks, four tackles-for-losses. The only difference was Baun had two quarterback hurries as well.

The Thing I Liked: Badgers never took the pedal off the gas – One thing that impressed me about the Wisconsin Badgers on Saturday was the ability to keep pushing the ball down the field no matter the score. They’re not a team to chuck it all over, and they didn’t need to do that on Saturday. Yet they refused to get complacent. Badgers kept their foot on Michigan’s throat, and yes, they did allow two garbage-time touchdowns yet the only thing that impacted was the over/under total.

Next up: Wisconsin stays home and plays Northwestern. The Wildcats are struggling offensively against good competition this season. They put up seven points against Stanford, and 10 points against Michigan State, it could be ugly as to what they do against Wisconsin. This has been a very even matchup through the last few years as each team has three wins in the last six games.

Charlie.