LOS ANGELES — In the new-look Big Ten, marquee matchups abound. There's a litany of games on every schedule that can jettison a team into the national conversation. These are the moments that make or break a team's season.

After two consecutive losses to then No. 4 Alabama and then No. 13 USC by a combined 49 points, it's time to ask: when will the moment not be too big for Wisconsin?

Against the Crimson Tide, it was relatively clear from the jump that the Badgers were going to get out-classed. Against Alabama, a team that finds itself ranked No. 1 after taking down Georgia? There's no shame in that. It's not exactly realistic to ask head coach Luke Fickell to have his squad ready to beat the best team in the country just 16 games into his tenure.

But against USC? Wisconsin started off sizzling, taking a commanding 21-10 lead into halftime with a real shot to bury the Trojans with a strong third quarter.

“We’re at halftime with a really good feeling, understanding and knowing these guys are gonna come out here and take a shot, this is a damn good football team," Fickell said.

"I thought we were prepared for that."

They weren't. The Badgers went three-and-out to open the second half, and it only got worse from there. The rest of Wisconsin's drives unfolded like this: muffed punt, turnover on downs, punt, punt, pick-six, turnover on downs.

“We just need to finish. That’s the biggest thing we have to work on," wideout Vinny Anthony said. "It just seems like we didn’t catch momentum back for real, and we just kept getting stuck.”

The Badgers looked more than ready for the moment in the first half. In his first game as a starter in 2024, quarterback Braedyn Locke immediately orchestrated a four-play, 75-yard drive on which he threw a gorgeous 63-yard touchdown pass.

Wisconsin's defense came to play in the first half as well. Safety Preston Zachman intercepted Trojans' quarterback Miller Moss, and defensive back Austin Brown strip-sacked him for what would be USC's third giveaway of the first half.

“We got a glimpse; we can be explosive and we can be fast," Locke said.

A glimpse, however, isn't nearly enough against a highly-ranked college football blue blood like USC. The Badgers came out lifeless in the second half and essentially handed the Trojans the game via a comedy of errors.

So what exactly happened in that second half? After the game, players seemingly couldn't put a finger on it.

"We got too comfortable," defensive lineman Elijah Hills offered. "We had them in the first half; there’s no excuse, no reason for us not to finish."

"Some of it was just execution," Zachman said.

"They came out and wanted it more in the second half, and that's all I'll say about that," tailback Tawee Walker said.

You could point to any number of schematic or on-field reasons as to why Wisconsin crumbled in the second half, and there are plenty. But I believe Anthony summed it up the best.

"We just have to take advantage of the moment," the receiver said.

The larger moment was a road game against a top-15 conference opponent, a chance to open Big Ten play with a statement win. But smaller in-game moments repeatedly passed the Badgers by, dooming them to a second half collapse.

On Wisconsin's first drive of the second half, an already daunting 3rd-and-12 was made nearly impossible when a routine, procedural error — an illegal formation penalty — pushed it to a 3rd-and-17.

Slated to get the ball back after forcing a three-and-out, Tyrell Henry trotted out to return the USC punt. The Michigan State transfer had fielded a combined 66 punts and kickoffs in his career prior to this play without muffing a single one. So naturally, he coughed up the ball and gave it right back to the Trojans.

Third downs are big moments too, and USC converted an unacceptable 11-of-17. On the Trojans' three offensive touchdowns in the second half, two came on third down and one came on fourth down. Each time, Wisconsin had a chance to limit the damage and get off the field. On two of those scores, the Badgers' best defender Hunter Wohler was responsible. His missed tackle on the quarterback Moss' seven-yard touchdown run was especially inexplicable.

These were all critical moments, and USC simply seized them while Wisconsin didn't. When your best player allows a touchdown on consecutive drives, how else can you qualify that? When a player that's never muffed a punt does so at potentially the worst possible time, what does that come down to?

"There’s not some magical thing you can say," Fickell said after the game. "It’s like, ‘okay man. Someone’s gotta make a play.’”

That's not Fickell throwing his players under the bus. That's a head coach astounded that his best tackler got his ankles destroyed by a generally immobile quarterback. That's a head coach dumbfounded by mistake after mistake, missed opportunity after missed opportunity.

That's not to say the coaching doesn't deserve blame, because it certainly does. The Badgers' repeated inability to show up in the biggest moments, on both a game-by-game and play-by-play basis, points to a larger mindset and culture-oriented issue within this program.

When will Wisconsin seize the moment? Plenty of them remain; No. 7 Penn State, No. 6 Oregon. If this roster was simply abysmal, these losses wouldn't sting nearly as bad. But the Badgers have proven they have the talent to hang around and make plays, only to collapse when it matters most.

"We gotta find ways to get these wins," Zachman said. "We're right there."

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