Holiday Bowl 2015: Game Grades, Analysis for USC vs. Wisconsin

The Wisconsin Badgers blew a 13-point lead late, but they kept their poise, marched back with a go-ahead drive of their own and held off the USC Trojans, 23-21, to capture a Holiday Bowl victory.

For coach Paul Chryst, it was a showcase game for his play-calling acumen as well as for defensive coordinator Dave Aranda's ability to draw up a shutdown game plan on a national stage. Neither disappointed.

The Badgers were in control the majority of the night, displaying a moxie that exuded confidence, and they were the better-coached and prepared team from the outset. That's the reason why they outslugged a more talented Trojans team.

Let's take a look at the game grades from Wisconsin's victory.

Positional Unit	1st Half	Final
Passing Offense	B	B
Rushing Offense	C-	D
Passing Defense	D-	C-
Rushing Defense	C+	C+
Special Teams	C+	C+
Coaching	B-	C-

 Passing Offense 

Though senior Cody Kessler finished with a solid game, he was just a bit off all night, and that was the difference. Four separate times, JuJu Smith-Schuster had a step on his defender, but Kessler missed him three of those times for what could have been huge plays.

Kessler extended plays and made some NFL throws, and his big-play ability is what makes him a pro prospect.

But his inconsistency is maddening. He was intercepted once with the game on the line and couldn't quite get his team in position for a game-winning field-goal attempt at the close of the game. The Trojans have weapons all over the field, but they just didn't get the ball enough.

Rushing Offense

The Trojans ran into a buzz saw against one of the nation's top-ranked rush defenses, and they were shut down most of the night. Justin Davis had a pair of short touchdown runs but generated nothing other than that, and Ronald Jones II wasn't a threat, either. USC finished with just 65 yards on 28 carries, and the Trojans' inability to balance their offense enabled Wisconsin to bring the heat on Kessler time after time.

Passing Defense

With stars such as Iman Marshall and Adoree' Jackson in the defensive backfield, USC shouldn't be allowing so many big plays. But Wisconsin senior quarterback Joel Stave dissected the Trojans all night, especially in the play-action game.

Alex Erickson routinely beat Jackson, especially in the first half, and Robert Wheelwright had some big grabs, too. Stave also utilized both tight ends to perfection. It was just a forgettable game for the Trojans' talented secondary.

Rushing Defense

It certainly didn't seem like the Badgers piled up 178 rushing yards, but they quietly wound up with a big game against a USC defensive front that played pretty well at times. Corey Clement and Dare Ogunbowale did most of the damage, but neither put up massive statistics. They just steadily, slowly, methodically grounded out yards and controlled the game.

It wasn't that the Trojans played particularly bad against the run, but they just couldn't consistently get big stops. That enabled Wisconsin to keep the ball for much of the game and establish the pace at which it wanted to play. That was a huge part of Chryst's game plan.

Special Teams

It was really a kind of "meh" effort for the Trojans on special teams. They didn't attempt a field goal, and Kris Albarado averaged just 38.2 yards over the course of his six punts. USC did get a huge 26-yard kick return from Adoree' Jackson to set up its second touchdown, which enabled the Trojans to trim the Wisconsin lead to 20-14, but that was the only decent play in special teams all night.

Coaching

This was not a great start to the Clay Helton era. The Trojans, at times, sleepwalked through the game. It took them more than a half to jolt their way into the ballgame, and while Helton did show some guts going for it on fourth down and making it a couple of times, some of the play-calling was puzzling and disjointed.

Also, when you look at the speed discrepancy, the Trojans should have devised better ways to get their talent mismatches the ball more. That never happened, and that's why they lost to a team that isn't as loaded with top recruits as them.

The Trojans won't accept losing, and Twitter was abuzz with folks everywhere, such as USA Today's Dan Wolken and USCFootball.com's Ryan Abraham, questioning the beginning of the Helton era throughout the night.

Positional Unit	1st Half	Final
Passing Offense	A	A-
Rushing Offense	B	B+
Passing Defense	B-	B-
Rushing Defense	A	A+
Special Teams	A	A
Coaching	A+	A+

 Passing Offense

For Stave, the close of his college career couldn't have gone much better. The former walk-on battled his way into a starting job and was a serviceable player throughout his time in Madison. But on Wednesday night, he shone.

Stave found receivers downfield all night, perfecting the play-action passing game and showing the grittiness it takes to win games such as this by returning from getting a cleat to the nose and leading his team on a game-winning drive. This was one of the best games of Stave's career, and he earned Holiday Bowl MVP honors because of it.

Rushing Offense

Much like it's been all year, nothing about the Badgers' running game was sexy, but it got the job done. Clement may have reached the 100-yard mark had he not gone down with a leg injury, but he looked as strong as he has since an early-season injury robbed him of most of the season.

Fullback Derek Watt was a force in situational plays as well. Chryst dialed up the right kind of runs at opportune times, and he used an array of runners with varying skill sets to keep USC on its heels. It was a great game plan, and the Badgers executed all night.

Passing Defense

While the Badgers wound up getting the big play when Sojourn Shelton picked off a Kessler pass after Jack Cichy pressured the Trojans' senior signal-caller, they also allowed some big plays to get USC back in the game. Though the grade could be a little lower, you'll see on replay that on a lot of the Trojans' key passing plays, there was strong coverage by Wisconsin. Kessler just extended plays and made throws.

In all, it was a solid effort for the Badgers secondary against a stable of game-breaking targets for the Trojans. It wasn't a perfect performance, but it was enough.

Rushing Defense

The Badgers allowed just 65 yards on 28 carries, and Cichy was a revelation in getting after Kessler after sitting the first half due to a targeting penalty. 

Just a redshirt sophomore, Cichy looked like a star in the making. He breathed new life into a Wisconsin defense that was reeling and a bit on its heels following two quick-strike scores by the Trojans that catapulted Helton's team into a one-point lead. Cichy helped shut things down after that.

The Badgers entered the game as the nation's fourth-ranked rush defense, and they showed why against USC. The Trojans have potential big-play threats in the backfield, but they weren't able to get going all night.

Special Teams

The biggest thing for Wisconsin was placekicker Rafael Gaglianone drilling all three of his field-goal attempts in the game, including the go-ahead game-winner. None of the kicks were long ones, but it still takes ice water to hit those in such key moments.

Drew Meyer averaged nearly 40 yards per punt, and though Wisconsin did allow a couple of returns for more yardage than it would have liked, Gaglianone's big night more than made up for it.

Coaching

Chryst was the perfect fit for Wisconsin when the Badgers went looking for a head coach for the second time in three years, and it looks like he already has his handprints all over this program. The first-year Badgers coach flexed his play-calling muscle against USC, executing his game plan to perfection. 

If he sticks around for a while and convinces defensive coordinator Aranda to stay with him rather than jump at any of the overtures you know will come after Wednesday night, the Badgers could make some serious noise in the Big Ten soon.

Wisconsin was the better-coached team, and that's a big reason why it won.

All stats gathered from NCAA.com unless otherwise noted. Brad Shepard covers SEC football and is the Tennessee lead writer for Bleacher Report. Follow Brad on Twitter @Brad_Shepard.