Win vs. Nebraska has Wisconsin players calling for Leonhard in permanent role

Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz loved offensive coordinator Bobby Engram’s call as the Badgers, trailing 14-9, faced second-and-7 on Nebraska’s 34-yard line with about a minute left in Saturday’s game.

“A couple of teams ran that exact play against them,” Mertz said. “Illinois, they ran it four times. Three of them were touchdowns. We had two plays and I was like, ‘Let’s go with this one.’”

But the pass didn’t work out exactly as it was drawn up.

“We thought IG (Isaac Guerendo) was going to be able to get outside with his speed,” Mertz said. “They overplayed it and he slipped inside. So I actually worked off of him and worked my progressions. Then Keontez (Lewis) had run across and they had a leverage. So on my way up the middle of the field to the middle of the ball route, I kind of just popped my eyes back and saw IG running clear. It was a complete adjustment. Crazy catch. I kind of lobbed it up there for a little suspense.”

Guerendo’s grab put the Badgers at the Nebraska 5. Two plays later, Mertz sneaked in from about six inches out to put Wisconsin up 15-14, capping a hard-fought, come-from-behind effort in which Badgers led only for the final 35 seconds.

“I’m just so proud of our guys right now,” Wisconsin interim head coach Jim Leonhard said. “It was such a rough week and early on in the game here… Guys just continued to battle and find ways to make plays. And we really needed to win a game where we didn’t play well. We needed to win a game going through some adversity and to see our offense and defense respond late in the game. I’m just very, very proud of everything we’ve been through and the resiliency that we showed today.”

The rough early week Leonhard referred to was the death of former Badger receiver Devin Chandler, one of the three Virginia football players killed in a shooting Sunday night.

Chandler’s death, the players said, hung over the team all week. But the grief didn’t hamper their preparation for Nebraska.

“We had to bounce back,” said receiver Skyler Bell, who scored Wisconsin’s first touchdown on a third-quarter pass from Mertz. “We’ve always took the punches how they come. You just gotta keep going forward. We want to play on Saturday, so whatever that looks like mentally and physically throughout the week to prepare, we’re going to do it.”

Defensively, outside of a 37-yard scoring drive following a Mertz interception that he said got hung up in the wind that put Nebraska up 7-0 and a 79-yard second-half scoring drive that was aided by 30 yards in Wisconsin penalties, the Badgers throttled the Husker offense.

“What did they have? Under 200 yards, 175, whatever it was?,” said safety John Torchio. “I thought we played great.”

It was, officially, 171 yards.

The win was the Badgers’ fourth since Leonhard replaced coach Paul Chryst on Oct. 8. It made Wisconsin bowl-eligible and players said it should lead to Leonhard losing the interim tag.

“We were just talking about it in the locker room, you know, who do we got to talk to for him with the job?” Bell said. “He showed that he can do it. He has what it takes. He’s a leader of men. He leads us very well. He’s the guy for the job if you ask any of us.”