Badgers Grades, Snap Counts From Week 4 Vs. Penn State: Who Was Wisconsin’s Highest Graded Player?

The Wisconsin Badgers conjured up a fourth-quarter comeback on Saturday evening against the Penn State Nittany Lions to secure their biggest win of the Luke Fickell era and improve to 3-1 on the season.

It was a major win for the Badgers, who were trailing 17-0 early in the game after a pair of Colton Joseph interceptions before making a comeback on the heels of their defense and two fourth-quarter touchdown drives.

Here are the snap counts and PFF grades from Wisconsin’s Week 4 win over Penn State.

Quarterbacks

Colton Joseph – Snap Count: [67], Grade: 57.4

Colton Joseph didn’t grade out well on Saturday, and it makes sense why: he had three interceptions, a sub-50 percent completion rate, and a number of missed throws. But he did deliver on two fourth-quarter touchdown drives with a number of important throws as Wisconsin found its way back for a win.

Running Backs

Darrion Dupree – Snap Count: [47], Grade: 73.0

Abu Sama III – Snap Count: [11], Grade: 68.5

Nate Palmer – Snap Count: [9], Grade: 56.5

Abu Sama had five carries for 34 yards, but was limited in this one after coming back from injury. It was a full Darrion Dupree workload with Bryan Jackson out, and he had a great game, specifically at the end. Dupree had eight carries for 52 yards, while catching four passes for 44 yards. Wisconsin doesn’t win this game without him.

Nate Palmer saw nine snaps, having one carry for a five-yard loss.

Wide Receivers

Chris Brooks Jr. – Snap Count: [48], Grade: 58.3

Eugene Hilton Jr. – Snap Count: [44], Grade: 54.3

Tyrell Henry – Snap Count: [40], Grade: 59.9

Malachi Coleman – Snap Count: [28], Grade: 50.1

Shamar Rigby – Snap Count: [15], Grade: 55.8

Malachi Coleman was back, but limited, as the snaps mainly consolidated between Wisconsin’s top three receivers. This was a game where the targets were across the board. Hilton had eight targets, catching two passes for 29 yards. Brooks and Henry had six targets each, while Rigby had three targets.

We’ll see how the receiver snaps change next weekend against Michigan State with more Coleman, but it was filtered more to the top three players on Saturday.

Tight Ends

Jacob Harris – Snap Count: [35], Grade: 89.2

Grant Stec – Snap Count: [25], Grade: 45.3

Emmett Bork – Snap Count: [19], Grade: 39.7

Ryan Schwendeman – Snap Count: [14], Grade: 47.8

Jacob Harris continues to get more run, with the Badgers needing that vertical threat at tight end. Additionally, Ryan Schwendeman returned to the fold after his injury, and got in for 14 snaps.

Harris led the team with five catches for 105 yards and a touchdown. He was Wisconsin’s highest-graded offensive player on the day.

Offensive Line

Kevin Heywood – Snap Count: [67], Grade: 73.6

Colin Cubberly – Snap Count: [67], Grade: 64.4

PJ Wilkins – Snap Count: [67], Grade: 56.9

Austin Kawecki – Snap Count: [67], Grade: 59.2

Emerson Mandell – Snap Count: [40], Grade: 61.8

Stylz Blackmon – Snap Count: [27], Grade: 51.4

Emerson Mandell didn’t start, but he got more reps in Week 4 as the Badgers continue to build him back from injury. He rotated in with Stylz Blackmon, who got 27 snaps.

Wisconsin’s pass protection was phenomenal for the most on Saturday. They allowed just six pressures, despite Colton Joseph having a 2.92-second time to throw, with PJ Wilkins accounting for three of them. He remains the big question mark of the unit.

They also got off some chunk runs, and will look to continue to grow there next week.