Who was a positive for the Badgers on Saturday?
Head Coach Luke Fickell said it best after the game: “This was something, like, kind of your worst nightmare. To be overtaken, manhandled, and dominated, especially in the second half.”
There isn’t much else to say about the Wisconsin Badgers’ loss on Saturday other than that it was a total butt-kicking at Kinnick Stadium. The game was an opportunity to bring the Heartland Trophy back to Madison, but it was a total disaster for the Badgers.
The Hawkeyes ran for 329 yards against the Badgers defense, with star tailback Kaleb Johnson gathering 135. That is the first time Wisconsin allowed more than 300 yards on the ground since the 2012 Rose Bowl against Oregon.
By throwing two more interceptions, Braedyn Locke extended his poor streak of six games with at least one pick. As Connor Whelan pointed out in our what went wrong in Iowa City article, Locke held onto the ball too long on multiple plays, which led to another miserable outing. The coaching staff has yet to consider any change at the starting quarterback spot.
Thankfully, this team is on a bye this week because the schedule does not get any easier. The top-ranked Oregon Ducks visit Camp Randall Stadium on November 16th. After that, Wisconsin will travel to Nebraska, who missed out on bowl eligibility and had an embarrassing 27-20 loss to UCLA at home.
The Badgers will finish the season on November 30th, defending Paul Bunyan’s Axe against the Minnesota Golden Gophers at home. The Gophers picked up an impressive win on the road at Illinois, the first time they defeated a Bret Bielema-coached team.
It was another challenging game to find some positives, but some Wisconsin players deserve recognition.
Here are three Badger standouts from the loss at Iowa:
Christian Alliegro
Alliegro was a tackling machine for the Badgers. He finished with a career-high 16 total tackles, including seven solo tackles. It was the first time in his career that his tackle numbers were double-digit. Alliegro also picked up his first sack since September 14th against Alabama.
Darrion Dupree
The running game, in general, was unspectacular against the Iowa defense, but true freshman Darrion Dupree did register his highest rushing total of the season.
While his carries came when the game was out of reach, Dupree finished with seven carries for 52 yards, which is 7.4 YPC.
C.J. Williams
While Vinny Anthony led Wisconsin in receiving yards, the lone Badger touchdown came on an 18-yard pass from Braedyn Locke to C.J. Williams. It was Williams’ first touchdown reception since the Badgers’ win over FCS South Dakota on September 7th.