CHARLOTTE, NC – The Wisconsin Badgers have won the Duke’s Mayo Bowl and its trophy.
And then they broke it.
As he danced around to celebrate his team’s 42-28 victory at Wake Forest on Wednesday, quarterback Graham Mertz dropped the football-shaped piece of Lenox crystal, leaving it shattered on the locker room floor after it fell off the base fell.
“We just wanted everyone to get a piece of that trophy,” quipped Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst.
Mertz accounted for three touchdowns, and Wisconsin turned four interceptions in the second half, all by different players, to 21 points to turn a close game into a near-rout from the Demon Deacons. Five players scored touchdowns for the Badgers.
Mertz, a redshirt freshman, threw for 130 yards and ran for two short TDs while Wisconsin (4-3) finished a rocky 2020 season at a high level.
“Yeah, I dropped it,” Mertz said sheepishly. ‘Its my fault. It happened.”
The badgers may be willing to forgive him.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.