Madison, Wis. - Defense wins championships. But it also can lose them, as the MSU defense demonstrated by giving up 630 total yards to Wisconsin to remove itself from championship contention.
The Badgers racked up the majority of their yards in the air (385), as quarterback Jim Sorgi directed an aerial assault to his favorite target, Lee Evans. They broke down the Spartans' secondary like clockwork, attacking flawlessly again and again, and they enjoyed it.
"I had a lot of fun out there," Evans said. "It is probably the best game I've ever played here."
The reasoning behind the highlight reel Evans produced as he exposed the Spartans' defensive backs was their inexperience.
"The younger guys, with the experience they have, they really don't know what we're all going to do at a certain time," junior free safety Jason Harmon said.
The veteran tandem of Sorgi and Evans enjoyed career days as they picked apart the young MSU secondary, which was without its leader, sophomore strong safety Eric Smith, for the second straight week.
"It's real hard (to play without Eric Smith), because it put a little extra pressure on me," said Harmon, who finished the game with a forced fumble and seven tackles.
"He was one of the biggest communicators back there. Between me and him, we kind of knew what each other was doing."
The younger guys who filled in for Eric Smith were sophomore Derron Ware and freshman Greg Cooper. Before Eric Smith went down against Michigan, he led the team in tackles and had helped in the secondary's turnaround.
Once Smith and the secondary had improved their communication through hand signals, they shut down their first three Big Ten opponents in the air.
After the game, head coach John L. Smith said the absence of Eric Smith hurt, but his team should have overcome it.
"He would have made a huge difference, but he wasn't here," John L. Smith said. "So we have to play without him, and we still have to come out to the field and play the way we can play, and we didn't do that."
John L. Smith also criticized himself and the coaching staff for not preparing the inexperienced players well enough.
"That's our job to make sure we come to the field and play with emotion and play with communication, regardless of how many second-team guys we have in there and regardless of how many holes there are," he said.
Wisconsin exposed the second-string players just 3:38 into the game when Sorgi connected with Evans on a 9-yard touchdown strike. The touchdown turned out to be the first of many for Evans, who finished the game with five of them to go along with 258 receiving yards.
Members of the Spartans' secondary claimed they never expected a game like that from Evans, who now is No. 3 all-time in Big Ten receiving yards with 3,341.
"We really didn't focus on No. 3, Lee Evans," sophomore cornerback Darren Barnett said. "Maybe we should have focused on him a little more. I think we should have doubled him more, because he was their go-to guy."
MSU senior quarterback Jeff Smoker, who said Wisconsin dominated his team, compared Evans' performance to one equal of his former favorite target, Biletnikoff winner and All-American receiver Charles Rogers.
"He's an amazing athlete," Smoker said. "He's going to do well at the next level. He's a special talent like Chuck who doesn't come along very often."
