The Badgers had a woeful performance on Saturday in a rivalry game.
Bad games after tough finishes against top teams continued on Saturday for the Wisconsin Badgers, as they had an ugly 44-25 loss to the Nebraska Cornhuskers, snapping a 10-game winning streak in the rivalry.
With the loss, Wisconsin drops to 5-6 on the season, needing a win against the Minnesota Gophers in the season finale to become bowl-eligible in what is turning out to be an ugly year in Madison.
Here are three quick takeaways from Wisconsin’s 44-25 loss to the Nebraska Cornhuskers on Saturday.
Energy shifts again
You could tell coming out of last weekend’s loss to the Oregon Ducks that it was going to be a tough week for the Badgers. It was the second time that they had a top-five opponent come to Madison, played them close until the fourth quarter, and fell short in a major game.
Last week’s loss was especially tough, though, as Wisconsin had chances time and time again to pull out a victory on their home field, battling all the way through the final minute with a ton of fight, ultimately falling just short yet again.
After the game, when speaking with the defensive players, it was clear that this one was going to weigh on them. Linebacker Jake Chaney reminisced on his career at Wisconsin, acknowledging that the team hadn’t won a major game in his four years with the program, despite there being ample opportunities to do so.
Because of the state of the locker room, it was unclear how Wisconsin would be able to respond. Yes, it’s important to flush out the tough losses and move on, but how could they? Amid a season of ups and downs and inconsistencies, the Badgers found a way to put it all together for a one-score game against the top team in the country, who had looked unbeatable for the past month.
So, it wasn’t fully a surprise that Saturday’s loss was similar to Wisconsin’s 42-10 defeat to the Iowa Hawkeyes a few weeks back, which came after similar conditions with the Badgers’ loss to Penn State.
Unfortunately, this one was an ugly loss, both in the short term and looking at the program overall. Wisconsin now has just one chance remaining to become bowl-eligible and there’s a strong argument that Minnesota has looked much better than Nebraska, having just played Penn State to a one-point game.
Overall, the Badgers lost another rivalry game in a bad way, and don’t really have an identity yet through two seasons of the Luke Fickell era. There was significant progress defensively last week, but that all unraveled on Saturday when the defense gave up 44 points to a team that had averaged only 15.6 points over their past five games.
Quarterback play
Quarterback play has been a big talking point this year, with Braedyn Locke struggling with inconsistencies all season, completing just 55.1 percent of his passes and throwing for nine touchdowns and nine interceptions heading into Saturday.
Well, Locke was at the absolute bottom of reasons why Wisconsin lost on Saturday. The quarterback had a solid game overall, tossing for 292 yards, three touchdowns, and an interception, which came only on the Badgers’ final drive with the game out of hand.
Locke began the day leading a six-play, 82-yard touchdown drive to match Nebraska’s opening score, completing all four passes for 62 yards, capping the possession with a four-yard completion to Bryson Green to put seven on the board.
One of Locke’s lone miscues seemed to come on the next drive where Wisconsin punted, as the quarterback had an open throw to Darrion Dupree that he bypassed, ultimately leading to a punt. Then, after getting the ball off a fumble at the Nebraska 17-yard line, the offense couldn’t move and Nathanial Vakos missed a 34-yard field goal.
Wisconsin had three straight drives that ended with a field goal attempt, with Locke making solid decisions and not giving the defense a chance to capitalize on a turnover. But, the Badgers were still trailing 24-10 at the half, thanks to two missed field goals, defensive woes, and a late fumble that resulted in a Nebraska score.
In the second half, after turning it over on downs where Wisconsin moved the ball well into Nebraska territory, Locke led back-to-back touchdown drives, connecting on a few explosives as the Badgers went 79 yards on four plays and 75 yards on five plays for the two scores.
Still, it was too little too late with the defensive issues, as Wisconsin ended up losing by 19. But, Locke wasn’t the problem on Saturday, putting up a solid offensive performance before his late-game interception when the game was out of hand.
Special Teams
It seems like we’ve talked about it all year.
Special teams continue to be a big issue for the Badgers, and the woes on that side of the ball cost Wisconsin some major momentum on Saturday.
Nathanial Vakos limited Wisconsin’s scoring early by missing a 34-yard field goal and a 41-yard field goal in the first half. Yes, the Badgers should be scoring touchdowns when they near the red zone, but that’s unacceptable and put Wisconsin in a hole early as those missed opportunities forced them to play from behind for much of the game.
But, kickoff coverage was a problem as well. Wisconsin gave up a 45-yard return on the opening kickoff, which set up a quick six-play, 55-yard touchdown drive for Dylan Raiola and the Huskers to begin the game.
Later, Gavin Lahm kicked a ball out of bounds, giving the Huskers field position at their own 40-yard line to start the drive. While Wisconsin was able to get a quick stop defensively, those mistakes can’t keep happening for the Badgers, who need to find a way to play cleanly if they want a chance to win games.
The Badgers have a lot of issues. Special teams is one of them and head coach Luke Fickell needs to evaluate how to improve the unit in the offseason, given the number of troubles the team has had this year.