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MARSHALL SPORTS
Chuck Landon: Errant kickoff turning point for Badgers
MADISON, Wis. -- Was this Madison or Manhattan?
For a while here Saturday morning, I wasn't sure.
The early kickoff in the a.m. ... Marshall's surprising early lead ... one color everywhere as far as the eye could see.
Yes, the game definitely had a Kansas State feel to it.
Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema must have felt the steady creep of deja MU, too.
After all, he was there on the K-State sidelines in 2003 when Marshall stunned the No. 6 ranked Wildcats in Manhattan, Kan.
So, imagine Bielema's relief when Marshall kicker Craig Ratanamorn booted a kickoff out of bounds early in the second quarter, giving the Badgers possession at the 40-yard-line.
No more poor field position.
No more having to play it close to the vest deep in their own territory.
No more deja MU.
Marshall had let Bielema's Badgers off the hook.
After gaining only 10 yards total offense in their first three possessions, thanks to such poor field position as UW's own 26-, 3- and 20-yard lines, Wisconsin finally had room to work. And the Badgers took full advantage of it.
Did they ever.
Wisconsin went to work and, consequently, worked over Marshall.
Ratanamorn's badly timed shank that flew out of bounds on the fly, touched off an onslaught that included Wisconsin scoring on five straight possessions and putting 51 unanswered points on the board.
Fifty-one!
That was the consequences of one seemingly inconsequential mistake.
Did that affect the outcome? Would the final score have been closer than the 51-14 mauling Wisconsin gave Marshall before 80,396 fans here Saturday at Camp Randall Stadium?
We'll never know.
But I do know this. When anyone plays a Big Ten opponent the game is always a battle of field position. The winner of the battle almost always wins the war.
And Marshall was winning that battle until the errant kickoff.
"The game plan was working, going as expected," said Marshall head coach Mark Snyder. "We're stopping the run and trying to make something happen with special teams and field position battle."
And, then, in the blink of an eye ...
"We talked about not blinking," said Snyder, "and we felt like we blinked a little when we kicked the ball out of bounds and gave them a little momentum to let them get back in the game."
The shift of momentum was obvious.
It was if the air went out of Marshall's balloon.
Thirteen minutes later, the Herd's 14-0 lead had turned into a 17-14 halftime deficit and Marshall never was competitive again.
The turning point?
It was undoubtedly the errant kickoff.
Just ask Bielema what turned his team around.
"I think the kickoff that gave us field position," answered Wisconsin's head coach. "Actually, you know what? We had a return on that and we were pretty jacked up in the huddle.
"We hadn't broke it out yet, but I thought that was going to go. Based on the field position ... you know the NCAA changed the rule that gave it from the 35 out to the 40.
"Any kick, we felt we were going to get a good return and all, but to start on the 40 ..."
That was Christmas in September. And Bielema accepted the gift.
Until then, for a little more than 16 minutes this game felt like Kansas State.
It was nice while it lasted.
Chuck Landon is a sports columnist for The Herald-Dispatch. Call him at 526-2827. E-mail him at clandon@herald-dispatch.com.
