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Published Sep 10, 2023
Grades and Game Balls Week 2: Washington State
Seamus Rohrer  •  BadgerBlitz
Staff
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@seamus_rohrer

Wisconsin fell on the road to Washington State in its second game of the season.

BadgerBlitz.com has grades and takeaways from Week 2.

OFFENSE: D+

It wasn't pretty. The Badgers offense was abysmal in the first half, serviceable in the third quarter and terrible to close out the game.

What's maddening about this performance is that Wisconsin's mistakes did it in offensively. It's one thing to get beat straight up, but to literally fumble the game away is incredibly disappointing, especially when the gaffes were so reminiscent of last season's squad.

Tanner Mordecai was much improved in his second game. His completion percentage won't look pretty, but he mostly kept his passes out of harms way and had a few "wow" plays, like his 16-yard touchdown to Skyler Bell to close out the third quarter, where he evaded pressure and delivered an off-schedule strike to his receiver for the score.

The ground game was putrid. After riding their two star tailbacks to victory in the opener, the Badgers couldn't get anything going on the ground. They finished with 90 yards on 29 carries for a measly 3.1 yards-per-rush. Wisconsin knew it was going to need to run the ball, and it couldn't get it done.

Penalties also killed the Badgers. False starts, ineligible men downfield and a litany of other mistakes doomed Wisconsin's offense, as they were consistently behind the sticks all night in Pullman.

It's also time to talk about Phil Longo's play-calling. There were some highly questionable decisions throughout the game, most of which came on critical third downs. Too often, Wisconsin ran a halfback slip screen or another play with only one or two viable routes on a third and long, which doomed their chances. The Badgers went just 6-of-14 on third down, and that won't cut it on the road against an offense like Washington State.

DEFENSE: D

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