Wisconsin Football Shouldn’t Be Satisfied With ‘Moral Victories’

The Wisconsin football team hasn’t beaten the Ohio State Buckeyes since their big upset at Camp Randall in 2010. Since that game, the Badgers have lost ten straight games to the Buckeyes.

There are plenty of reasons for that. Ohio State is a blue-blood football program. Top recruits want to go to Ohio State. They are always in contention for conference championships and more. They usually have a lot more talent than Wisconsin football teams do. They have been better coached in the past. There are tons of reasons why the Ohio State Buckeyes own the series with a 63-18-5 record over Wisconsin.

The Badgers entered the game Saturday night as an underdog by just over two touchdowns. They lost 24-10.

There were plenty of excuses for the loss. The Wisconsin football team is riddled with injuries, entering the game without Chez Mellusi and then losing Braelon Allen and Chimere Dike for the second half. Their quarterback was a redshirt freshman making his second career start.

It’s been over 24 hours by now and I’ve had a chance to think about the loss. And like a lot of fans, my first thoughts after the game were, ‘That’s okay. The Badgers didn’t get blown out like they did last year. They hung close with Ohio State until the fourth quarter. Did we really expect to beat the No. 3 team loaded with talent while we are still in somewhat of a transition year?’

And no, the more I thought about it, the more I realized the Wisconsin football team squandered a golden opportunity on Saturday night.

Wisconsin Football Left Plenty of Opportunities on the Field

I don’t want to sound like there aren’t any positives to takeaways from the game, because there absolutely are.

The moment didn’t look too big for Braedyn Locke. He’s a guy I think a lot of Wisconsin fans can get behind when they think about the future of the program.

The defense looked great against one of the best offenses in the Big Ten. Definitely encouraging for the future of the program.

But on the flip side, it isn’t very often you can get a team like Ohio State playing as poorly as they were.

Think about all of the missed opportunities.

Wisconsin football had momentum after stopping the Buckeyes on a fourth down play, giving them an excellent starting field position. Two plays later Allen busts an 11-yard run but fumbles it. Ohio State gets a field goal seven plays later.

A few possessions later, the Badgers had a chance to tie it at three with a 54-yard field goal. Granted, it was a long field goal, but Nathaniel Vakos missed the kick.

In the next possession, the Badgers intercepted Kyle McCord, who entered the game with just one interception all year. The Badgers go three-and-out but Bertrums shanks the punt, sending it just 29 yards. The Buckeyes start close to midfield and eventually score on a Marvin Harrison touchdown.

Near the end of the half, the Badgers are knocking on the door with a chance to cut the lead to three before the half. But a bad pass from Locke forces Skyler Bell to kneel down to catch the ball when he would have walked in with a good pass. The Buckeyes defense stuff the Badgers on the next two plays. Braelon Allen gets hurt and the Badgers are forced to kick a field goal before the half.

The Badgers came out hot and scored right away at the start of the second half, tying things up.

After that, the Buckeyes scored on another Harrison touchdown. They sealed it with a Treveyon Henderson touchdown run. The Badgers didn’t have enough juice to put up any more points.

Wisconsin Badgers Shouldn’t Accept ‘Moral Victories’

My point is this: it is not often you play a team the caliber of Ohio State and keep things as close as the Badgers did while making all the mistakes they did.

The Wisconsin football team won the turnover battle 3-1 and still lost by two touchdowns. They had opportunities, they just didn’t capitalize on it. A made field goal and a touchdown before the end of the half make this game much closer and maybe cause things to turn out a little differently.

This is a game I’m sure the players and coaches will tell you they should have won.

A win on Saturday night would have given the Badgers a ton of momentum heading into the rest of the season. Now, they sit at 5-3 (3-2) and need to essentially win out and hope Iowa loses at least one more game.

The Badgers also had a huge recruiting weekend. Some may argue the environment and everything is more important and that the result of the game is overrated, but could you imagine how crazy that environment would have been if the Badgers pulled off the upset? The non-existent roof would have been blown off Camp Randall and Madison would still be buzzing. That would have been a very memorable trip for all of the big-time recruits that were in attendance.

So yes, the Badgers didn’t get blown out by the Buckeyes, which is good, I guess. And I know this team is in a transition to what the coaching staff envisions for the program. But if they are going to compete with the big-time programs that are currently in or joining the Big Ten, and if they are going to be competing for College Football Playoff appearances, these are the games they need to win.

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