The Badgers senior gave a heartfelt postgame interview after a tough loss.
The Wisconsin Badgers suffered a brutal 16-13 loss to the No. 1 Oregon Ducks on Saturday night, putting together a scrappy performance in their best fight yet against an elite opponent, but failing to come together at the end yet again for their fifth loss this year.
It was a close contest from the start, with Wisconsin clawing back to take a 10-6 halftime lead. But, despite a great defensive effort, the Badgers weren’t able to close things out with several opportunities in the fourth quarter, leading to another heartbreaking loss.
Speaking to reporters after the game, linebacker Jake Chaney was visibly frustrated, sharing his brutal take on how this year, as well as his four seasons, have gone at Wisconsin.
“It sucks. That’s all I can say right now,” Chaney said. “No, I’m not trying to throw anybody under the bus or no point finger, but you know, that’s a tough one, right? As a senior last year, that one probably sucked the most.
“From my four years here, probably, I don’t think we won a big game. And you know, you could say Penn State was close, say all these other teams were close, but I feel like truly like that came down to the last drive. Just being that close, you know, you always say you’re so close, you’re so close. But you know, for a lot of guys that’s kind of your last opportunity. So it is what it is.”
Like it has been all season long, the Badgers struggled to finish, as they couldn’t capitalize on enough opportunities in the fourth quarter. Was there any standout reason for the team’s shortcomings?
I can’t tell you right now. Maybe you guys come back on Tuesday, I can give you a better answer, but you know, I think that’s up to the coach’s job to figure out what went wrong or what happened,” Chaney said after the game. “And you know, I think our coach is going to figure it out and as an older guy, you know this is my last go around with these guys. But, I’m confident in coach Fickell and the guys in the room and they’ll be able to fix it and next year we can have some of these big wins.
“It burns for sure. And you know I gotta go home and do homework so. Yeah, you know, I might get a few bad grades tonight. Might not turn in a lot of stuff tonight but, you know, I think there’s something a lot of guys don’t forget and you know, hopefully, you know, you got the younger guys like Christian [Alliegro] who just left the table, young guys like Tackett [Curtis], you know, hopefully, they can learn from my failings, my shortcomings and the team’s failings, the team’s shortcomings where next year, the next few years, their last years here, you know they can be the big change. They can be the big awakening the team for the program.”
The sheer honesty from Chaney is a reflection of the current locker room; yes, the Badgers have shown they’re close to taking the next step, but that doesn’t make it any easier on the seniors, who have been through a ton of adversity during their careers at Wisconsin.
Chaney, for example, has dealt with a major coaching change, back-to-back 7-6 seasons, and now a 5-5 year that has included four losses to AP Top 25 teams, with the last two hurting the most.
The toughest part for the group now is the turnaround. Wisconsin struggled with that aspect after their crushing loss to the Penn State Nittany Lions, falling flat the following week with a 42-10 blowout against the Iowa Hawkeyes.
They can’t afford to have that happen this year, as the Badgers have yet to gain their bowl eligibility with just two games left this season.
“Coach Fick addressed it in the locker room. You know, there was a lot of words said, but that was one of the things said,” Chaney said about the turnaround. “And you know, we can’t have this, the same turnaround as Penn State to Iowa as we had as we have now. You know, I’m gonna get the guys back, right? Got Sunday practice tomorrow, another chance, you got two more chances. So no, I can guarantee you we’re gonna attack it and we’re gonna learn from our mistakes.
You know, you lose to the number one team by three points and you just tell people we’re close, you know, you gotta come back and try again. We’re close, but that’s the reality of it. There’s a lot of times you’re going to fall short, but you know, all you can do is come back, cause this is all we got.”
Overall though, you have to feel for the seniors on this team, who have endured a ton this season in close games, with Saturday’s blow being the most crushing, as Wisconsin managed to play the top team in the country to just a three-point deficit.
Unfortunately, that’s all it was. A deficit.