Coming off a disappointing performance against Penn State last week, the 18th-ranked Wisconsin Badgers welcomed the Eastern Michigan Eagles to Camp Randall Stadium.
The Badgers cruised to a 34-7 victory on Saturday led by a much better looking ground game and a very strong defense.
Wisconsin's woes in the Red Zone reared their ugly head early on. After Chez Mellusi ran for a 60 yard gain to get a 1st and Goal from the 7 yard line, the Badgers failed to punch it into the endzone, turning it over on downs at the 1 yard line after four straight Mellusi rushes.
After the Badgers defense got a 3 and out from Eastern Michigan, the Badgers finally found success in the Red Zone, going on a 9 play, 55 yard drive that finished with a Mellusi 6 yard touchdown run.
From there, it was pretty much all Badgers, adding on two more touchdowns and a field goal in the second quarter, including a 82 yard touchdown run from Isaac Guerendo.
Quarterback Graham Mertz completed 14 of 17 pass attempts for 141 yards. Mellusi and Jalen Berger carried most of the load on the ground with Mellusi carrying the ball 20 times for 144 yards and Berger got 15 carries for 62 yards. Four Badgers running backs scored one touchdown each with Mellusi, Berger, Guerendo, and Braelon Allen reaching the endzone.
The Badgers defense was phenomenal once again, allowing just three first downs by Eastern Michigan all game, and one of them was via a penalty. Eastern Michigan had just 92 yards of total offense all game and averaged less than one yard per rush attempt.
Wisconsin has a bye week this next Saturday and return to the field on Saturday, September 25th when they take on former Badger Jack Coan and the Notre Dame Fighting Irish at Soldier Field in Chicago.