1^st quarter

14:55: Ball with a good explosive run, initial explosion and then runs through a guy for a gain of 8.

14:20: Ball finds a hole, converts 2^nd and 2.

13:31: Ball with a decent 4 yard run.

13:09: Ball with a big hole, nice cut back, doesn’t go down for first contact.

11:28: Ball with a powerful 7 yard 1^st down run.

10:28: Ball to the outside, waits for a block and then north to south for a decent pickups. Decent explosion and speed. 7 yards.

9:30: Ball up the middle against a stacked box, still able to get 4 yards somehow, though his offensive line had a lot to do with it.

8:29: Ball to the sideline, forced out of bounds after about 3.

7:42: Ball powers straight down the middle for a sizeable touchdown, 9 yards.

6:20: Cunningham goes up and gets one. Nice hands and vertical ability.

1:54: Ball up the middle on 3^rd and 4 on a draw, converts, explosive run.

0:25: Trenton Robinson, Michigan State safety, with an interception. Great ball skills, horrible ball skills by Wisconsin wide receiver Nick Toon on that one. Looked like a miscommunication between him and Russell Wilson, who made a poor decision throwing into to coverage and not the most accurate throw. Nice hustle by Wilson, however, to actual be the one to chase down Robinson and tackle for him for no gain. You don’t see quarterbacks do that very often.

2^nd quarter

13:56: Montee Ball with a run up the middle. Jerel Worthy, a non factor to this point, hits ball in the backfield. Ball is strong, but Worthy is stronger and had momentum. Tackle for loss. Worthy needs to make more like this to maintain his status as a mid first rounder. He had been dominated by Wisconsin’s awesome offensive line to this point.

12:59: Cunningham with a 9 yard gain on a short, quick slant. Kirk Cousins was not accurate, but Cunningham bails him back with nice hands to catch a ball behind him.

10:39: Ball up the middle against a stacked box for 4.

10:05: 2^nd bad mistake of the game by Nick Toon. False start as a receiver. Bad. Bad bad bad.

7:50: Poor blitz pickup by Ball.

7:34: Ball cuts, nice patience between the tackles, cutting in and out a few times to make something out of nothing. He does leave with a head injury, though.

1:20: Cousins over the middle to Cunningham, awesome route run, nice hands and an even better run after the catch to break free for a 35 yard touchdown with several defenders in the area when he caught it.

 

3^rd quarter

10:21: Ball wide open out of the backfield for a sizable gain on the outside. 22 yards, forced out of bounds eventually.

9:43: Trenton Robinson, a former cornerback and a rising prospect at free safety for Michigan State, gets a nice tackle for loss on a Russell Wilson outside run.

9:03: Ball, back in the game, up the middle against a blitz, a lot of space, but only 4 yards. Good closing speed by Michigan State’s defense.

8:33: Ball on a nice chip block.

7:33: One play after recording a sack, Wisconsin middle linebacker Chris Borland has a tackle for a loss. The sophomore is having a huge day after 15 tackles last week. He’s really coming into his own and is someone to look out for down the road.

4:24: Ball with a short inside run.

2:03: Cunningham with another 3^rd down catch, nice hands to catch it in a tight window.

1:33: Cunningham on a quick slant, able to get a few yards after the catch. 8 yards on 1^st down.

4^th quarter

14:55: Cunningham with a nice run block on an inside run. He’s had a few nice run blocks tonight and has shown a good willingness to block on the outside, which is half the battle with receivers.

12:15: Aaron Henry, one of the top safety prospects this year, with a tackle for loss.

10:58: Cunningham blanketed, but makes an awesome catch in the corner of the end zone for a 2 point conversion. Awesome leaping catch.

10:00: Ball targeted, but inaccurate under pressure. Ball could have made a better play on the ball.

8:31: Ball with a ton of space, explosive 21 yard run.

7:59: Cunningham targeted, but he wasn’t open. Not a good throw either. Cunningham did the best he could.

6:54: Ball with an excellent block in the backfield to give Wilson time to throw.

4:23: Ball takes a ton of room to the inside and turns it into 11 yards. Nice cut back, but this was almost all on the line.

3:12: Ball stuffed in the backfield on an outside run. Excellent penetration by Michigan State.

3:07: Ricky Wagner with a poorly timed and costly holding penalty.

1:39: Nick Toon hasn’t done much tonight, at least not much positive, but he does an excellent job to come back to his quarterback on a deep go route and catch it for 43 yards. Also, great job by Wilson of surviving under pressure and still making an awesome deep throw, right on the money.

1:26: Wilson dumps it off to Ball, who runs in untouched for a 2 yard touchdown.

0:36: Cunningham catches underneath for about 13 yards.

0:04: Aaron Henry with a clutch coverage to force an incompletion with 4 seconds left in the game.

0:00: Montee Ball finished with 115 yards and a score on 18 carries with 2 catches for 22 yards and another score in this game, which is very impressive considering how good Michigan State’s run defense is, even without William Gholston, who was suspended for this contest after trying to rip Denard Robinson’s head off against Michigan. Wisconsin’s offensive line certainly helped, as the stud inside duo of Kevin Zietler at guard and Peter Konz at center absolutely dominated potential first round pick Jerel Worthy, with the exception of a few plays. Konz and Zietler are both rising prospects and are in the discussion to be among the first interior linemen off the board.

Back to Ball, as good as his line was, when Ball left the game a little bit with a concussion, their offense really sputtered. Ball’s backup James White, a talented back in his own right, was only able to rush for 42 yards on 11 carries, which helps Ball’s stock. Ball runs bigger than the 5-11 215 he is and he has decent, but not great breakaway speed. He can pass block and pass catch and figures to compete with Lamar Miller and Chris Polk to be the first back off the board after Trent Richardson.

Now back to Jerel Worthy, this game certainly didn’t help his stock. He was a non factor for most of the game and while Wisconsin’s offensive line is very, very good, so are most of the lines in the NFL. Worthy finished the game with 4 tackles, 2 for loss, but really didn’t make an impact with Zietler and Konz able to double team him with Gholston out. This game won’t hurt his stock too much, but he still looks like just a bottom half of the first round type guy, even in a weak defensive tackle class.

Russell Wilson had his first bad game of the season going 14 for 21 for 223 yards, 2 touchdowns, but 2 costly picks. At 5-11, he isn’t a prototypical quarterback, but he’s a leader and he throws the ball at a good angle. He also has a good arm, especially for his size and he’s mobile. I think he’s got a lot of developmental tools and looks like a mid rounder, a la Troy Smith, a very similar player also out of the Big 10, but this wasn’t his best game. He gets a bit of a pass because Michigan State has an awesome defense, but he remains a 4^th rounder or so in my book.

Speaking of Michigan State’s awesome defense, safety Trenton Robinson had yet another good game for Michigan State and is rising up into the day 2 range possibly in a weak safety class. In 7 games, he has 32 tackles, 2 picks, 1 tackle for loss, 1 sack, and 1 pass deflection. Wilson’s top receiver, Nick Toon didn’t help his stock either. He had two really bad plays, a miscommunication and a lack of awareness on Russell Wilson’s pick and a false start. He also only caught 2 balls, but had a very nice 43 yard catch in the 4^th quarter. He’s a rising prospect who could be in the round 2 range now, but this game at least halted his rise.

As for BJ Cunningham, he looked very good on short, intermediate and deep routes. He has very nice hands and bailed out his quarterback on a couple occasions. He had 6 catches for 106 yards and a touchdown, not including an awesome catch for a two point conversion. He’s got solid breakaway speed and nice size at 6-2 210. In 7 games, he already has 48 catches for a career high 723 yards and 3 touchdowns. He looks like a potential day 2 prospect and could find himself in the first 2 or 3 rounds if he keeps this up.

Cunningham’s quarterback, Kirk Cousins, had yet another solid game. He went 22 for 31 for 290 yards and 3 touchdowns with no picks. He led an awesome game winning drive, Hail Mary touchdown and all. Cunningham bailed him out on a few plays and he still isn’t the most consistent, accurate, or dominant player, but he still is a solid day 2 pick because of his leadership, his arm strength, his experience, and his flashes of brilliance. All the tools are there, but he’s not the most consistent player and he doesn’t stand out on tape.