Who stood out for the Badgers in their crushing defeat?
Coming off their second bye week, the Wisconsin Badgers had a chance to collect their first actual signature win under Luke Fickell. Despite holding Oregon to six points in three quarters, Wisconsin fell 16-13 in the most heartbreaking loss of the season.
It was another disappointing showing for the offense, particularly the passing game. Quarterback Braedyn Locke finished with 96 yards of passing, one touchdown, and one interception.
Too many times, Locke was inaccurate with his throws, and the “Air Raid” offense remained stagnant. This game was the breaking point for Fickell, who fired offensive coordinator Phil Longo on Sunday.
The Badgers, for the third straight season, will enter the Nebraska game looking to clinch bowl eligibility. The Huskers, fighting to reach their first bowl game since the 2016 season, fell to USC in Los Angeles, 28-20. It was the Huskers’ fourth straight loss after starting 5-1 on the season. Nebraska is listed as a 2.5-point favorite over Wisconsin.
Here are three standouts from Wisconsin’s 16-13 loss to Oregon on Saturday.
Mike Tressel’s Defense
The whole unit deserves credit here. Thanks to the outstanding sound defense, the Badgers were primed for a major upset in college football. Wisconsin held the Oregon offense to a season-low 16 points on Saturday, the first time this season that the Ducks failed to score 20+ points. A Jordan James rushing touchdown at the start of the fourth quarter was the only touchdown the Ducks scored all game.
Some individual standouts include, but are not limited to, safety Hunter Wohler, who led the Badgers with 12 total tackles.
Linebacker Christian Alliegro followed up his stellar game at Iowa with ten tackles, including one tackle for loss. Finally, Nyzier Fourqurean recorded his first interception as a Badger in the first quarter that halted an Oregon Ducks scoring opportunity.
Tawee Walker
One of the few bright spots on the offense was Tawee Walker. It was another solid game from the Oklahoma transfer, who gained 97 yards on the ground to pace the Badgers. He was close to a touchdown reception on a wheel route, but Braedyn Locke overthrew the pass.
Wisconsin couldn’t get anything going in the air, which halted the progress of the run game. But, two of Wisconsin’s three scoring drives came in big part due to the ground attack, and Walker was a big part of that.
Nathaniel Vakos
Wisconsin had to settle for field goals, as the offense failed to reach the end zone on multiple drives throughout the game. Vakos converted on his two-field goal attempts to keep the Badgers in the game.
Vakos has now been a perfect 5/5 on field goals over the last three games after some inconsistencies to begin the year. That continued with two short field goals on Saturday.