Wisconsin Football Loses to No. 3 Ohio State: Here’s What Stood Out

Despite the Badgers putting up a better fight than anticipated, Luke Fickell and the University of Wisconsin football team (5-3, 3-2 B1G) couldn’t pull off the upset at home against No. 3 Ohio State, losing 24-10 at Camp Randall Stadium on Saturday night. 

Here are a few things that stood out from the Wisconsin Badgers week nine loss to Ryan Day and the Buckeyes.

Wisconsin Football Offense Was Shorthanded & Outmatched

It wasn’t exactly a banner performance for Phil Longo and the Badgers offense on Saturday night, who only mustered up 259 yards against Ohio State’s stingy defense.

That said, Wisconsin football put up a better fight than I expected, considering the Badgers were down Tanner Mordecai and Chez Mellusi entering the game — and played without its two most experienced weapons in Braelon Allen and Chimere Dike during the second half.

Being down that many contributors would leave any offense limited. But injuries aren’t the reason why Allen fumbled twice, the offensive line had another costly pre-snap penalty, or the Badgers failed to capitalize in the red zone. Wisconsin had chances; they simply didn’t capitalize on them.

Redshirt freshman Braedyn Locke completed 18-of-39 passes for 165 yards and a touchdown. He showed encouraging flashes throughout the game — but moral victories don’t win games — and the Badgers offense spent most of the nights spinning its wheels.

On a more positive note — Locke has a bright future under center.

No-look Locke 😲@Braedyn_Locke3 x @BadgerFootball

📺: NBC pic.twitter.com/lZ6mYLWPuC

— Big Ten Football (@B1Gfootball) October 29, 2023

Jackson Acker looked serviceable in relief of Allen, carrying the ball nine times for 34 yards while catching a team-high five passes for 20 yards receiving.

It’s also worth noting that Will Pauling put together another strong performance, catching four passes for 51 yards and a touchdown.

Wisconsin Football Defense Gave Badgers a Fighting Chance

This Wisconsin football defense has a strong track record of resilience, consistently showing its bend, don’t break style of play — and it was on full display again tonight. 

During Ohio State’s initial drive, they earned a couple of first downs. However, Badgers linebacker CJ Goetz made a pivotal play by sacking Kyle McCord and forcing a fumble on a fourth-down attempt. Wisconsin recovered the ball, denying the Buckeyes any points on their first drive of the night. Great Start. 

Even after a Wisconsin fumble gave Ohio State the ball right back, Mike Tressel’s unit held strong. Despite the Buckeyes starting in a favorable field position, Wisconsin football kept Ohio State out of the endzone again and held them to a field goal. 

After a stupid taunting penalty by Gio Paez that extended another Ohio State drive deep into Wisconsin territory, their quarterback, Kyle McCord, made a risky pass toward the corner of the endzone. The Badgers capitalized on this opportunity, and Preston Zachman made an impressive interception while falling out of bounds. 

💥💥💥 pic.twitter.com/85towcS8Ik

— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) October 29, 2023

Talk about doing your part. 

Ohio State didn’t score its first touchdown until nearly five minutes into the second quarter (that’s a win in my book). Despite the strong effort from the Wisconsin Badgers defense in the opening half, they eventually allowed a 16-yard touchdown to Marvin Harrison Jr. This marked a minor setback after an otherwise near-perfect performance to that point. 

Ricardo Hallman made a significant defensive play for Wisconsin football during the second quarter by intercepting his fifth pass of the season and handing the ball back to the offense to no avail. 

It wasn’t a perfect outing from Wisconsin’s defense — they did manage to allow TreVeyon Henderson to run for 162 yards and a touchdown on 24 carries — that was brutal. However, the Badgers defense, which has had its holes to this point, went toe to toe with the No. 3 team in the country. 

UW’s defense finished with nine tackles for loss and four sacks — It’s hard to ask for more than that, and I was pleasantly surprised overall. 

Other Wisconsin Badgers Musings 

Chimere Dike had a pair of nice returns, most notably his 35-yard punt return that put Wisconsin football within striking range. It’s a shame he got hurt — Dike was a difference-maker on a night when the offense needed all the help it could get. 

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Maema Njongmeta performed really well again at inside linebacker in extended playing time. The senior finished with 10 tackles, 2.5 TFLs, and a sack. I thought he popped a few times and was worth mentioning. 

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Ricardo Hallman had a lot of really nice moments during this game — and even kept Marvin Harrison Jr. in check for a while. I’ve always been a big Rico guy — but I’m starting to wonder if he’s a little more than just a stud college player … time will tell.

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Darryl Peterson and C.J. Goetz made an impact against the Buckeyes, and that was encouraging to see. Together, the duo accounted for eight tackles, 4 TFLs, 2.0 sacks, and a forced fumble.

Wisconsin football needed the outside linebackers to make their influence felt in this one without a mobile quarterback — and they managed to get home enough to make an impact.

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Overall, Luke Fickell had the boys ready to play against a far superior team talent-wise — and made the Buckeyes sweat a little despite losing some key players to injury and rolling with a redshirt freshman QB.

The Badgers were completely embarrassed and didn’t look like they belonged on the field with Ohio State a year ago. That wasn’t the case today, and despite losing by two scores, it somehow feels like a small win.

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