Wisconsin football fourth-quarter woes continue in 'crushing' loss to No. 1 Oregon
The Wisconsin football team's inability to finish close games has become the defining storyline for the Badgers in a season littered with missed opportunities.
No. 1 Oregon handed Luke Fickell and the Wisconsin Badgers football team yet another gut-wrenching defeat Saturday night, narrowly escaping Camp Randall Stadium with a 16-13 win.
"That's crushing," Fickell told reporters. "To not be able to find a way again to come out on top is difficult. Those guys in that locker room fought their butts off. They did everything we asked them to.
"We have not been able to find a way to finish. The games come down to the 4th quarter, they come down to the deep, deep waters, and we still have yet to get over the hump and pull it out."
Coach Fickell’s T.E.A.M. bounced back from a rough outing against Iowa to produce a gritty and competitive performance against Dan Lanning and the unbeaten Ducks (11-0, 8-0 Big Ten). Mike Tressel's defense played lights-out for much of the game, and Wisconsin even put together a nice drive at the end of the first half that resulted in a touchdown pass to wide receiver Will Pauling, giving the Badgers a 10-6 halftime lead.
Coming out of the break, the Badgers defense kept the pressure on, forcing the Ducks to punt again, while the offense tacked on a field goal after a methodical 9:11 drive to extend their lead to 13-6.
By all accounts, momentum seemed to be on Wisconsin’s side as the game entered the fourth quarter.
For all their flaws—and there are plenty—the Badgers once again put themselves in position to pull off a program-defining upset, holding a 13-6 lead entering the final frame. But once again, their shortcomings reared their head, leaving the Wisconsin fans with another frustrating tale of what could have been.
Oregon’s Heisman Trophy candidate quarterback, Dillon Gabriel, quieted a rowdy Camp Randall crowd after the Jump Around with a crucial fourth-and-nine conversion to open up the final frame before the Ducks marched down the field and tied the game with 13:14 remaining.
After a quick Wisconsin three-and-out and an Oregon drive that stalled after five plays, the Badgers faced a pivotal third-and-eight on their next possession. A questionable chop block penalty call by officials on Jake Renfro wiped out what would have been a critical conversion.
The setback pushed the Badgers deep into their own territory and led to an underwhelming punt from Atticus Bertrams. The Ducks capitalized on the field position, setting up their go-ahead field goal with just 2:39 remaining.
Naturally, Phil Longo’s offense sputtered down the stretch, stalling on three straight possessions before one final drive with the game on the line ended, predictably, in a Braedyn Locke interception with 1:26 remaining—his ninth in seven starts—officially closing the door on Wisconsin’s upset bid.
It also capped off a forgettable outing for Locke, a redshirt sophomore, who finished 12-of-28 for just 96 passing yards — the fewest in a Badgers loss since 2018.
"There's a lot of things you can point a finger at," said Fickell. "Obviously, it's easiest to talk about the quarterback position, but as a whole, there's so many things that we've got to get better at in order to put ourselves in a position where it's not all on the shoulders of a QB."
The Badgers now sit at 5-5 (3-4 Big Ten) and have been outscored 59-7 in the fourth quarter of their losses. Against Oregon, the defense did everything it possibly could to keep Wisconsin alive, holding the high-powered Ducks offense to their lowest point total of the season.
But without an answer of any kind offensively, even one of the defense’s best efforts wasn’t enough to get the Badgers to the finish line. After the game, Fickell pointed to their effort and resilience as reasons for optimism moving forward.
“There was not a doubt in the eyes in that locker room, and I do mean that,” Fickell said. “Sometimes you say those things, but there wasn’t a doubt. You get the last stop again on a fake field goal, and there was not a doubt that I could see in the eyes of anybody. That makes me feel good.
“It doesn’t make me feel good that we weren’t able to finish it.”
Finishing has been the Wisconsin football team's Achilles’ heel all season.
For Fickell, who dropped to 0-6 against ranked teams in his tenure at Wisconsin, the Oregon loss adds to the frustration of a program stuck in neutral.
“We’re going to be challenged big-time now, just where we are, emotionally and physically,” Fickell said. “But that’s how we’ll find out what this program is made of and where we’re headed.”
Saturday’s loss was emblematic of Wisconsin’s season—flashes of promise undone by a complete and utter inability to close. The Badgers have two games remaining—at Nebraska and a home tilt against Minnesota—to secure bowl eligibility for the 23rd consecutive season.
For a program that hasn’t beaten a ranked opponent in over three years, these final weeks will provide a glimpse into whether Fickell’s vision for the future can begin to take shape or if the struggles of the past will continue to define the present.
"I do believe where it's not always seen or always felt, there's something that's building," Fickell expressed. "There's something that's coming. Unfortunately, it hasn't been able to rear its head in games like this. I put that on me."
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