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Shattered! Wisconsin QB drops crystal trophy while celebrating Duke Mayo Bowl victory

CHARLOTTE, N.C. — Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz was sure-handed throughout the Badgers’ 42-28 victory in Wednesday’s Duke Mayo Bowl. He made a big drop after the victory, however.

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While dancing in the locker room after his team’s victory against Wake Forest, Mertz dropped the football-shaped, Lenox crystal bowl trophy, leaving it shattered on the floor of the locker room, ESPN reported.

“I’m not under oath so I don’t know if I have to speak,” Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst joked to reporters after the game. “I want everyone to have a piece of that trophy. I didn’t see it. I don’t know.”

Jack Sanborn, named Most Valuable Player in the contest, smiled and said, “No comment on that one,” the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel reported.

“There’s video proof out there who broke the trophy, and I’m not going to say anything else regarding that,” Noah Burks, whose interception helped set up a score that gave Wisconsin (4-3) the lead for good in the second half, told the newspaper. “Although we did not know the trophy came off.”

The crystal flew right off the base of the trophy. And there was plenty of video evidence.

“Yeah, I dropped it,’' Mertz told reporters. “That’s on me. It happened.

“My mama would call it a boo-boo, but it’s all right, we’ll bounce back. It’ll be the last trophy I ever drop, I guarantee you that.”

Mertz, a redshirt freshman, accounted for three touchdowns, throwing for 130 yards and rushing for two short TDs. The Badgers’ defense converted four second-half interceptions into 21 points to break open a close game.

“I actually was talking to (assistant) coach (Jim) Leonhard when that happened, so I will remove myself from that conversation, but like Noah said, there is some video proof of what happened,” Wisconsin safety Scott Nelson, who had an interception, told the Journal-Sentinel. “Apparently, we’re getting a new one. I don’t know if that’s a secret; I’m sorry if it is. But I think Graham got a little too excited and thought he could dance a little bit. I try to stay in my lane. I’m not much of a dancer. No good things happen when I dance.”

As a quarterback, Mertz is called upon to fix problems when the offense sputters. After shattering the trophy, he came up with his own version of the hardware by taping a bottle of Duke’s mayonnaise to the base,