Despite the halftime festivities to honor three BYU legends, it wasn’t a great day in Provo on Saturday afternoon as the Wisconsin Badgers delivered the Cougars a 40-6 beatdown.

The Badgers manhandled the Cougars on both sides of the ball as the No. 10 team in the country came away with the convincing win.

Scoring recap

The Badgers got on the board first when Rafael Gaglianone connected on a 23-yard field goal for the 3-0 lead.

The Cougars answered with a 31-yard field goal from Rhett Almond to tie the game at 3-3. The Cougars did most of their work on the ground during the 14-play, 61-yard drive before a pair of red zone penalties derailed the offense. Ula Tolutau was key with five carries for 38 yards, including an 18-yard burst to move BYU to within scoring range.

Wisconsin found the end zone on the next possession as it would take a lead that it would never relinquish when Jonathan Taylor scored on a 1-yard run. While Taylor had a couple of solid runs on the drive, it was a 50-yard reception from Danny Davis III that was the key on the 68-yard drive.

After a BYU three-and-out, the Badgers pushed the lead to 17-3 when Alex Hornibrook found Quintez Cephus for a 9-yard touchdown strike. While the score came through the air, it was the run that did most of the damage as four Wisconsin backs carried the ball a combined eight times for 59 yards, including four carries for 43 yards from Taylor.

Following another Cougar punt, the Hornibrook-to-Cephus connection struck again, this time from 15 yards out, as Wisconsin found paydirt for the third straight drive. Hornibrook was outstanding on the drive, as he completed 6 of 7 passes for 80 yards.

BYU cut the deficit to 24-6 to end the first half when Almond hit his second field goal of the day from 32 yards out. It was a drive that included a 50-yard reception by Micah Simon on a well-thrown ball from Beau Hoge.

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