Madison, Wis. — Once again, missed opportunities haunt the Spartans (4-4 overall, 1-3 Big Ten) as they enter the locker room at halftime trailing Wisconsin (6-2, 3-1), 7-3.
The Badgers drew first blood in the second quarter when quarterback Joel Stave found tight end Jacob Pederson wide open in the middle of the field for a 31 yard touchdown, capping off a 10-play, 90 yard drive.
Prior to the scoring drive, MSU’s offense appeared to have found its stride, but sputtered at the Wisconsin 43, and the Badgers took over from their own 10 yard line.
MSU responded with an 11-play drive that traveled 55 yards, ending in a 34-yard field goal by senior kicker Dan Conroy.
After the defense forced the Badgers to go three and out from deep in their own territory, a bad snap on ended in a blocked punt by sophomore defensive end Marcus Rush, recovered by the Spartans and giving them the ball at Wisconsin’s 11 yard line.
However, a series of penalties and lost yardage pushed MSU out of field goal territory, and the Spartans were unable to capitalize on the best starting field position the offense has seen all year.
Junior quarterback Andrew Maxwell is 11-of-19 passing for 107 yards while junior running back Le’Veon Bell has taken the ball nine times for 30 yards so far, including a two yard rush that put him over the 1,000 yard mark on the season for the first time in his career.
Wisconsin will receive the ball when the second half resumes.
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