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University of Minnesota Athletics
Minnesota Falls to Wisconsin on the Road 48-12
10/14/2006 12:00:00 AM | Football
Wisconsin jumped ahead of Minnesota early and never looked back en route to a 48-12 victory over the Gophers this afternoon at Camp Randall Stadium in Madison, Wis.
The Gophers were on the move during the first drive of the game after Bryan Cupito connected with Matt Spaeth on a 16-yard reception on the game's first play. Two rushes for 12 yards by Amir Pinnix had the Gophers near midfield but Jason Chapman forced an uncharacteristic Pinnix fumble on the ensuing play and Jack Ikegwuonu scooped up the loose ball and rambled 50 yards for a Badger touchdown.
The Gophers were on the move again on the next drive. Pinnix ran for 15 yards and Cupito connected with Eric Decker for 11 yard. Minnesota approached midfield again, but the Badger defense tightened and the Gopher drive was halted at the Wisconsin 46. On the next drive, the Badgers converted on a 4th-and-1 from the Gopher 33 when P.J. Hill scampered 28 yards to the Minnesota 5-yard line. Hill popped into the end zone on the next play to cap a 10-play drive to give Wisconsin a 14-0 lead.
Minnesota continued to move the ball on its third drive of the first quarter, beginning with a Pinnix 27-yard run on and another 22-yard scamper to the Badger 31. Cupito connected with Spaeth again for 10 more yards to bring the Gophers to the Badger 21, but the Minnesota drive stalled and the Gophers settled for a 37-yard field goal by Jason Giannini to pull Minnesota to 14-3. That score held at the end of the first quarter. Pinnix totaled 77 yards on the ground in the first quarter.
Wisconsin extended its lead to 21-3 on a John Stocco eight-yard touchdown pass to Luke Swan on third down. The seven-play, 53-yard drive took 3:54. The Badgers extended the lead to 28-3 when the Badgers took a short field and converted with a two-yard touchdown pass from Stocco to Andy Crooks.
The Badgers started the second half with a Stocco 40-yard touchdown pass to Travis Beckum to give Wisconsin a 35-3 lead just a minute into the second half. Hill added a two-yard touchdown run in the third quarter to give Wisconsin a 41-3 lead, but Mario Reese intercepted a two-point conversion pass by holder Ken DeBauche and returned it into the end zone to add two points for the Gophers at 41-5.
Keith Massey forced a fumble by Luke Swan with three minutes remaining in the third quarter and recovered the fumble to give Minnesota some life at the Badger 22-yard line. The Gophers cashed in on a Pinnix two-yard touchdown run to make the score 41-12 with 14:49 left
Wisconsin tacked on the final points of the game on a four-yard touchdown reception by Beckum for the final deficit of 48-12.
Minnesota was led individually by Pinnix who had 97 yards rushing on 19 carries, along with a touchdown. Cupito finished the game 13-for-28 with 94 yards passing. Spaeth was the Golden Gophers leading receiver with 42 yards on four catches, while Decker had 26 yards receiving on three catches.
Wisconsin was led by Hill who had 164 yard rushing on 25 carries, and got into the end zone twice on the afternoon. Beckum caught five passes for 118 yards, and scored two touchdowns on the afternoon. Stocco finished 12-for-19 with 193 yards and three touchdown passes.
Minnesota will be back in action on Saturday, Oct. 21 when its hosts North Dakota State at the Metrodome at 2:30 p.m. That game will be broadcast on Fox Sports Net North.
