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White carries Wisconsin over BYU

Nov 10, 2013 - 1:41 AM Madison, WI (SportsNetwork.com) - James White racked up 194 yards from scrimmage and three touchdowns to lead the 21st-ranked Wisconsin Badgers past the BYU Cougars, 27-17, in a non-conference tilt from Camp Randall Stadium.

White gained 147 yards on 23 carries with two rushing scores and caught six passes for 47 yards and a touchdown.

Wisconsin (7-2) won its 29th straight non-conference home game. Only LSU (40) has more consecutive non-conference home wins.

Joel Stave completed 23-of-32 passes for 196 yards, a touchdown and an interception for the Badgers, winners of four straight overall. Melvin Gordon ran for 86 yards on 19 carries and Jared Abbrederis hauled in eight passes for 67 yards.

"He's managing the game," Wisconsin head coach Gary Andersen said of Stave. "And I don't think you can underestimate those words. Managing the game is very important for our offense and always will be. He's handling it well."

Taysom Hill threw for 207 yards, two touchdowns and an interception on 19- of-41 efficiency in defeat. Cody Hoffman made seven catches for 113 yards and both scores as BYU (6-3) had its five-game winning streak halted.

"I thought this would have been a 24-20 type of game going into it, and that's about what it would have and could have been, but we didn't play quite cleanly enough to make it that," BYU head coach Bronco Mendenhall lamented.

Wisconsin took the opening kickoff and marched 76 yards in 11 plays for the opening touchdown. Stave's 15-yard completion to Jordan Fredrick on 3rd- and-13 allowed the Badgers to keep the drive going, and White took it into the end zone untouched one play after he caught a 27-yard pass down to the 4.

The two teams traded turnovers later in the first. Tanner McEvoy picked off Hill on a 3rd-and-7 throw and returned it 20 yards to the BYU 34, but three plays into the next Wisconsin drive Kenzel Doe coughed up the football, allowing Craig Bills to dive on it for BYU.

Hill led a 13-play trek on the ensuing possession which led to a 31-yard Justin Sorensen field goal and a 7-3 Badgers' advantage.

Jack Russell matched Sorensen with a 38-yarder for Wisconsin with 3:34 left in the first half.

Chris Borland recorded one of his two sacks for the Badgers on the next BYU series, forcing a punt. The Badgers then executed the two-minute drill to perfection.

Stave completed 8-of-10 for 62 yards on the drive and made three impressive throws on third down. The march spanned 65 yards in 2:08 and resulted in a touchdown pass to White over the middle just seconds before halftime.

The Badgers capitalized on a quick BYU three-and-out to start the second half with another Russell field goal for a 20-3 lead.

BYU cut its deficit in half at the 9:04 mark of the third when Hill went up top for Hoffman, who reeled in the 34-yard touchdown catch despite being interfered with.

Early in the fourth quarter, White burst through a hole on the right side of the line and exploded into the end zone for a 14-yard score and a 27-10 Wisconsin lead.

Hoffman's second touchdown catch of the second half came with 3:12 left to play. BYU attempted an onside kick, but Wisconsin recovered and forced BYU to use its timeouts before punting it back to the Cougars with 2:12 to play.

Hill started at his own 14 and drove into Wisconsin territory, but the clock ran out on the Cougars.

Game Notes

Wisconsin is now 1-1 all-time against BYU ... Wisconsin's last 13 wins have all been by double digits ... The Badgers had allowed just one offensive touchdown at Camp Randall this season entering Saturday ... This was the first home game for Wisconsin in 28 days after two road tests and a bye week ... Wisconsin resumes its Big Ten slate when it hosts Indiana next Saturday.