Colton Joseph accounts for 4 touchdowns and Wisconsin routs Michigan State 31-3

MADISON, Wis. -- Colton Joseph threw for three touchdowns and rushed for another score to lead Wisconsin to a 31-3 win against Michigan State on Saturday.

Jacob Harris rushed for two scores for the Badgers (4-1, 2-0 Big Ten), who have won four consecutive games.

Harris caught a 20-yard pass from Joseph during the game's first series. The Badgers shaved 8:16 off the clock, going 75 yards in 15 plays, on their first-quarter scoring drive. The Badgers were 4 of 4 on third-down conversions on the opening drive.

Joseph and Harris revisited their connection for a second week, following a 72-yard score with 1:13 left that rallied Wisconsin to a 24-20 win at then-No. 13 Penn State.

Harris said beating Michigan State was proof that the Badgers are headed in the right direction.

“As great of a win as last week was, it does you no good if you don't continue to build on it,” Harris said. “It wasn't like we won the Super Bowl last week. As a good team, we won. It was a good team. In order for this team to get where this team has to go and will go, we have to be able to stack weeks and get better every week no matter what the result is.”

Joseph, a former Old Dominion quarterback, went 9-of-20 passing for 145 yards. He had 10 rushing attempts for a season-high 130 yards, making him the first Badgers QB to rush for at least 100 yards in a game since Tanner McEvoy ran for 158 yards against Bowling Green in 2014.

Wisconsin coach Luke Fickell said he's been telling Joseph to be aggressive in the run game.

"We saw, or I saw him run to win,” Fickell said. “Two weeks ago I challenged him: ‘Run to win. Run to score.’ And I think we saw a little bit more of that today.”

Fickell said the transfer portal is yielding benefits, building on a solid roster from 2025, and the combination has given the Badgers their first four-game winning streak in five years.

Joseph and Harris are examples of new players stepping up.

“We preach about being consistently good, not occasionally great,” Fickell said. "We haven't been there — consistently good — for the past few years for whatever reason, injuries or different things. This is what we hoped to continue to see.

“There were a lot more pieces after spring football and as we went into fall that we felt like we had, but there's so much new.”

Gavin Lahm’s 30-yard field goal with 3:56 remaining in the first half pushed Wisconsin to a 17-0 lead.

Liam Boyd kicked a 31-yard field goal with 9 seconds remaining in the first half to put Michigan State (2-3, 0-2) on the scoreboard at 17-3.

Joseph continued his strong performance, slipping past defenders and sprinting 47 yards for a TD that put Wisconsin ahead 24-3 at 10:36 of the third.

The Badgers put the game out of reach when Malachi Coleman caught a 46-yard Joseph pass for a score and a 31-3 lead with 7:56 left in the game.

Three quarterbacks played for Michigan State. Alessio Milivojevic, the starter, was 15-for-32 passing for 103 yards.

Jaziun Patterson was the Spartans' rushing leader with 18 attempts for 62 yards.

The Spartans failed to capitalize on a handful of Badgers' penalties. Wisconsin accrued six penalties for 67 yards.

Michigan State has lost three straight games. The Spartans were 5 of 18 of third-down conversions and 1 of 6 on fourth down.

The takeaway

Michigan State: Coach Pat Fitzgerald said he was incredibly disappointed with the Spartans’ performance, especially with the conversion rates on third and fourth down.

“We weren’t good enough. It looks like we lost some one-on-one battles and looked like we had guys open at times and couldn’t get the ball. We win at receiver and lose at o-line or we win at o-line and lose at receiver and guys fall down. We’ve just got to get it to operate cleanly and 11 heartbeats as one.”

Wisconsin: Tight end Jacob Harris is making an impact this season. Harris, a Bowling Green transfer, became the first Wisconsin tight end to catch touchdowns in back-to-back games since Jake Ferguson in 2018.

Up next

Michigan State: The Spartans hots Illinois next Saturday.

Wisconsin: The Badgers play at No. 23 UCLA on Oct. 17.

___

Sign up for Top 25 poll alerts here. Visit the Top 25 here and see AP’s full college football coverage here.