The struggles inside Ryan Field continued for No. 10 Wisconsin, as five turnovers doomed the Badgers' chances for a win in a 17-7 loss to the Northwestern Wildcats on Saturday.

The defense allowed only 263 total yards and 3.9 yards per play; however, the offense could only muster a first-quarter touchdown without some key pieces in the passing game, and the rushing attack could not carry the unit like last week against Michigan.

Here are BadgerBlitz.com's instant grades after the divisional battle.

Without two receiving targets in Danny Davis and Kendric Pryor, and tight end Jake Ferguson was injured during the conference clash, Wisconsin's passing game struggled. It is hard to give a grade so low with those significant contributors out or not at full strength. For that matter, Graham Mertz is still a second-year player as well.

That being said, the redshirt freshman contributed to four of the team's five turnovers on the day.

Mertz threw for 230 yards, but only completed 23 of 41 passes on the day. His lone touchdown was the 49-yard strike to Chimere Dike in the first quarter, but he also threw three interceptions in addition to his fumble. One of those picks was on a deflected pass, but another was an overshot throw.

In the second half, Mertz could not help generate anything consistently for the offense and seemed like he could not find a rhythm. In the final two quarters, the team completed 12 of 25 throws for 110 yards and an interception.

With no hesitation, I feel Mertz will bounce back. However, it was a rough game against one of the nation's best defenses this year in an edifice that can be described as an abyss of success for the program in the last 20 years.

Northwestern's defense deserves a ton of credit here. Overall, Wisconsin averaged just 3.4 yards per carry (40 carries for 136 yards), but Mertz praised the ground game in his postgame interview.

A bright spot on offense that elevates the grade here? That would be true freshman Jalen Berger, who carried the ball 15 times for 93 yards. Four of those runs going 10 or more yards. The first-year back followed his blocks and showed good vision to move the chains and gain solid yardage. He displayed more of his potential in an otherwise dreary performance for the offense.

Outside of Berger, however, not much was gained by other tailbacks or the fullbacks. Garrett Groshek lost a fumble in the first quarter and only gained 10 yards on seven carries (along with hauling in four receptions for 18 yards).

Redshirt freshman Nakia Watson carried the ball only seven times for 26 yards. The fullbacks did not have much success on the day either.

Without a doubt, Wisconsin missed Davis and Pryor, both of whom were listed as unavailable for Saturday's game. At full strength, or at least one of them playing healthy, it could have made a difference. That being said, as much as I like this group and outside of one big strike, it was a rough day. Give credit to Northwestern's defense and its secondary. Outside of Berger and the Dike touchdown, they stuffed the run and made the Wisconsin offense ineffective in sustaining drives that put points on the board.

Early in the game, Dike provided a huge spark with a 49-yard touchdown reception. Outside his two catches for 52 yards, three other Badgers receivers only mustered eight receptions for 95 yards. All three receptions for Adam Krumholz came late in the fourth quarter, but he also fumbled a jet sweep in the third period. Fellow redshirt senior Jack Dunn, who was injured during the game, caught four passes for only 37 yards.

Redshirt junior Jake Ferguson once again led the team in receptions, hauling in seven passes for 58 yards. He was injured during the game, but worked to try to fight through it.

Redshirt sophomore Jack Eschenbach caught one pass for five yards, but dropped a fourth down throw late in the contest. Northwestern linebacker Paddy Fisher deflected a pass that could have been Hayden Rucci's first career reception that eventually resulted in an interception in the first half. For that matter, it looked like the redshirt freshman got open as well on a third down pass play that eventually turned into a sack on Mertz.

Wisconsin's ground attack looked decent at times, especially with Berger in the backfield. However, it could not sustain momentum and ware down the Northwestern line throughout the game.

Again, credit to the Wildcats here, but what really stood out was the pressure put forth by Mike Hankwitz's unit. Wisconsin allowed three sacks and seven quarterback hurries on the day on top of seven tackles for loss overall.

Northwestern could not run the ball on Saturday afternoon. Wisconsin held their Big Ten West foe to 24 yards on 23 carries.

Isaiahh Loudermilk recorded two tackles but also showed the ability to put pressure on with a couple of quarterback hurries. Sophomore nose tackle Keeanu Benton was credited with a forced fumble. Redshirt senior Garrett Rand also recorded two tackles.

It feels weird to give As to two units in a loss, but these two starters flew around the ball.

Junior Jack Sanborn led the team in tackles with 14, 10 of them solo. He also recorded the team's lone sack late in the fourth quarter. Sophomore Leo Chenal was second on the team in stops with six, but more impressively, he registered five quarterback hurries.

With Mike Maskalunas out, the two starters stayed healthy yet made a huge impact in holding Northwestern's offense at bay.

Though no sacks from this unit for the second consecutive game, the unit helped hold Northwestern to 2-of-15 on third down conversions and just seven points off of turnovers. Overall, the team were credited with 13 quarterback hurries, four from this room.

Redshirt senior Noah Burks tallied four tackles, all solo. True freshman Nick Herbig registered three stops, along with another tackle for loss and two quarterback hurries. Redshirt sophomore C.J. Goetz recorded two tackles, one for loss, along with a couple of quarterback hurries. Redshirt freshman Spencer Lytle recovered the goal line fumble in the first quarter to change momentum after a disastrous defensive start.

Is this too nice of a grade? I do not think so. Normally, I do not allow officials' calls during the game influence my grading. Yes, Wisconsin was called for four pass interference penalties in the game -- two on corners (one each on Rachad Wildgoose and Caesar Williams).

Were they actually penalties though? I don't think so.

Wisconsin held Ramsey to 52.3% on completions for the evening (23 of 44) for 203 yards and a touchdown. Wildgoose appeared to bite on the trickery by Northwestern on the Riley Lees pass in the first quarter (not sure what the coverage call was there but it looked like he was responsible for the receiver), but the fumble on the ensuing snap negated any points for the Wildcats.

Donte Burton was technically beat on the second-quarter touchdown pass from Ramsey to Ramaud Chiaokhiao-Bowman, but it appeared he had decent position on the receiver. Credit to the quarterback on putting it in a spot where the corner could not make a play.

Depending upon Wildgoose's status this week with his right arm injury. it will be interesting who may need to step up once against Minnesota. Luckily, this is one of the deeper groups on the team. Semar Melvin appeared to play well when called upon.

The other two pass interference penalties came against Scott Nelson and Eric Burrell, with the former's being controversial on the first offensive series for Northwestern.

Burrell and Collin Wilder both recorded two tackles on the day. Burrell's day included a tackle for loss, while both Nelson and Wilder tallied one pass breakup and one quarterback hurry each.

Overall, the secondary matched up well against Northwestern and did enough to win the game.

Andy Vujnovich punted well on Saturday, averaging 41.6 yards per attempt with two over 50-plus yards. Three of them were inside the 20-yard line. The former D-III punter has solidified himself as a weapon in this phase of the game.

The return units did not do much against the Wildcats to provide a spark. Redshirt freshman Stephan Bracey averaged only 18 yards per kickoff return, while Dean Engram took two punt returns back for two yards. Engram also fumbled in the second half, but it was fortunately recovered by Wisconsin.