Advanced Stats Further Illustrate Just How Dominant Wisconsin Was vs. Eastern Michigan

Wisconsin football passed the eye test in its 54-10 demolition of Eastern Michigan on Saturday, but it also passed the numerical, analytics test.

Badgers fans were desperate to see a dominating, comfortable victory over an overmatched opponent, and after a troubling first quarter that looked even worse than Wisconsin's concerningly uneven win over FCS Western Illinois, the Badgers turned it on and across the last 45 minutes of the game, they completely dominated the Eagles 51-3.

Though Wisconsin wasn't able to get its ground game humming in the absence of Abu Sama, something Badgers fans certainly would've liked to see, the stifling defense that forced three turnovers, the electric passing game that amassed over 300 yards in the first half and the special teams that scored yet another touchdown gave the Wisconsin faithful more than enough to smile about on the way home from Camp Randall Stadium.

Finally, the Badgers had notched a feel-good win. Not a narrow escape against a MAC or FCS team, not an ugly game against a team you're supposed to obliterate — a proper, good old-fashioned beatdown against a clearly inferior opponent.

Wisconsin fans reveled in the blowout victory, finally satisfied with what their team looked like on the field. But on paper, the Badgers looked pretty darn good too.

Did Wisconsin really beat EMU that bad? Why yes, it did

Wisconsin Badgers linebacker Cooper Catalano. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

The scouting platform Dropback's Parker Fleming, who's gone viral in recent years for his "Did We Really Get Beat That Bad" chart that evaluates a team's performance based on net success rate, has become a staple personality of the college football data and statistics world.

Each week, he releases the "Did We Really Get Beat That Bad" graph, a telling look at how well teams performed. The graph measures the net success rates for each team; in other words, the sum of how successful (or unsuccessful) each play was. Thus, it provides an all-encompassing look at how dominant teams really were in both victory and defeat. The teams on the far right of the graph authored dominant victories, achieving the most success from down-to-down.

📊🏈DID WE REALLY GET BEAT THAT BAD?
Net Success Rates in Week 3 pic.twitter.com/HDtckEw0j8
— parker fleming (@statsowar) September 21, 2026

According to Fleming, Wisconsin had the 6th-most dominant victory in college football this week (amongst FBS vs. FBS games) with its net success rate against the Eagles.

Translation? The Badgers won most of their plays in Week 3. On a down-by-down basis, they were much better than Eastern Michigan. The final score obviously indicates this game wasn't close, but Wisconsin blew the Eagles out and dominated play-by-play, rep-by-rep.

Notable team also notches commanding victory in Week 3

Penn State Nittany Lions quarterback Rocco Becht. | IMAGN IMAGES via Reuters Connect

Ohio State's 59-3 win over Kent State was unsurprisingly the biggest margin of victory in terms of net success rate, but right behind the Buckeyes is Penn State, whose 55-13 win over Buffalo was the second-most dominant win in college football in Week 3. The Badgers are gearing up to play the Nittany Lions on the road in Week 4 to open up Big Ten play.

Penn State found itself closer to the middle of the graph in Week 2 after a narrow win over Temple, but it clearly got back on track this week against a weak Buffalo squad. The Badgers and the Nittany Lions are both coming off dominant victories; who can carry that momentum over into conference play?

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