Holiday Bowl 2015, USC vs. Wisconsin, 23-21: Full highlights, final score and more

Wisconsin fought hard and came up with a big turnover late against USC to pick up a Holiday Bowl win

The USC Trojans and Wisconsin Badgers looked like they were going to find themselves in an old-fashioned dogfight on Wednesday night from Qualcomm Stadium in the 2015 Holiday Bowl. Through the first quarter of play, neither the Badgers or the Trojans were able to get anything going offensively. Both defenses largely continued to play well throughout the entire 60 minutes of game time, but the likes of Cody Kessler and Joel Stave could only be silenced for so long.

Wisconsin was supposed to be getting a major boost in this game with the return of running back Corey Clement and he started out giving their offense a bit of a pop on the ground. However, that wouldn’t last the entire game as he suffered a scary looking injury where his body got folded up. Stave and Dare Ogunbowale were able to get things moving even without Clement on the floor, especially with Robert Wheelwright making arguably the best catch of the bowl season to date.

USC went into halftime trailing 13-7, but came storming back in the second half as Kessler started to really get his legs under him and his big receivers such as Juju Smith-Schuster making big plays to keep the ball moving downfield. By the time the end of the fourth quarter rolled around, the Trojans were up 21-20 late in the fourth quarter. However, the fight wasn’t over.

Stave battled through getting inadvertently getting kicked in the fact by a defensive player and drove down the field to kick the go-ahead filed goal with under three minutes left on the clock. Even more in their favor, Kessler threw an interception early in the Trojans’ final drive. However, the Badgers were unable to do anything with the drive and USC got the ball back for one last hectic try at points.

Kessler and the Trojans only had 39 seconds to go 90 yards, but the senior quarterback made things interesting, completing passes and moving the ball down the field. When it was all said and done, USC had fourth down from around midfield with seven seconds remaining. Kessler, however, threw an incomplete pass and the Badgers were able to secure the Holiday Bowl victory.

Three stars

Corey Clement may have left this game early due to injury, but the running back was huge for the Badgers early. He took 19 carries for 66 yards and a touchdown.

Justin Davis was far from an efficient rusher in this game for the Trojans. However, his two rushing touchdowns on 12 carries was good enough to pay big dividends.

Jack Cichy came into the Holiday Bowl for the Badgers having only two sacks on the entire season. He accrued three sacks on one drive alone and pressured Cody Kessler all night long in a great performance on the defensive side of the ball

Highlights

https://twitter.com/Pac12Networks/status/682439984931049472

Odds

The Trojans were 3.5-point favorites coming into the 2015 Holiday Bowl, which they obviously failed to cover. The two teams also hit the under on the 50.5-point O/U line.