MADISON, Wis. — The Wisconsin Badgers welcomed the Nebraska Cornhuskers to Camp Randall for a Saturday night primetime game, desperate to break their three-game losing streak.
The first quarter made it seem as if we were in store for Wisconsin’s most pathetic performance since… last weekend. But the Badgers were able to overcome a slow start and clinch bowl eligibility for the 22nd straight season, with the help of stand-out performances from the defense and passing game, leading to the 24-17 victory.
Here are my three biggest takeaways from tonight's win.
1. Defense rebounded after an abysmal start
Wisconsin's cold streak seeped into the first quarter of Saturday's game. The first two-and-a-half Nebraska drives were absolutely dreadful for the Badgers defense.
They’ve struggled with mobile quarterbacks throughout the year, and even had problems containing a third-stringer in Chubba Purdy. On the first series, Nebraska ran five straight times before Purdy broke off a 55-yard scramble for a touchdown. The very next drive, he completed a few passes in a row, then launched a deep ball to an open Jaylen Lloyd for a 58-yard touchdown.
On Nebraska’s third series of the game, after a full quarter of marching down the field and scoring without much resistance, Wisconsin finally flipped the momentum. The Cornhuskers went for a 4th-and-1 from Wisconsin’s 33-yard-line, but Emmett Johnson was stopped after barely making it to the line of scrimmage.
This was the first time all game that the defense actually stepped up and made a play, and it completely swung the energy of the game.
They got a nice defensive stop on the very next drive, then were let off the hook by a missed Nebraska field goal to end the half.
The loss of the defense's best player in Hunter Wohler could’ve killed them, but their momentum continued, and then some. Of Nebraska’s five second-half drives, their first four collectively went for 22 yards off of 16 plays.
It was close to a perfect half of football, then the final drive of regulation happened.
The Badgers let Purdy pick up two separate first downs with his legs and allowed an 18-yard run from Johnson. This set up a 30-yard field goal from Tristan Alvano with just a few seconds left to tie the game and take it to overtime.
They made up for the rough finish in overtime, stifling Purdy and catching an interception on the final play to secure a win.
“We’ve gotten to the position where all of a sudden, we’ve started to panic a little bit when we’ve given up plays, and it’s cost us. And they didn’t panic, they found a way,” Luke Fickell said after the game.
“There was a panic at some point in time that you thought was gonna happen, but they didn’t. Maybe it’s some of the stuff they’ve been through. But they found a way to adjust, adapt and played really, really good football the rest of the game.”
2. Mordecai needed to deliver, and he did
Given the strength of Nebraska’s run defense, it was no mystery that the Badgers needed a stand-out performance from Tanner Mordecai in his final home game.
He showed up. Eventually.
Mordecai somehow looked rustier to start this game than he did last week, when he played for the first time in over a month. On Wisconsin’s first two series of the game, most of his passes either hit the ground or his receivers’ feet.
The defense’s fourth down stop seemed to shift momentum for the offense, too. Right after that, Mordecai led them down the field for a nine-play, 66-yard touchdown drive, then a six-play field goal drive. It was also the point in the game when Phil Longo realized that Mordecai was ultimately the key to winning. Of their 14 plays over the two drives, 11 were either a run or pass from Mordecai.
“Because of who Tanner is and because of his leadership, it’s why we probably didn’t fold when it was 14-0, or didn’t panic,” Fickell said.
They began the second half with a nothing-drive, then finally took the lead on the following series.
Mordecai was responsible for the few key plays that drove them down the field for their only second-half touchdown. On the second play of the drive, he dodged a sack then kept it for a 13-yard gain. After a few short runs, he found Will Pauling on back-to-back plays to take it to Nebraska’s 22-yard-line. A key defensive pass interference then set up Braelon Allen’s first touchdown, giving Wisconsin a 17-14 lead.
They stalled for the next few drives, eventually allowing Nebraska to tie it up at the end of regulation.
But it was Mordecai who made the biggest plays in overtime to set up Allen’s game-winning touchdown. He picked up a first down on 3rd-and-8 with a completion to Vinny Anthony, then nearly converted another third down a few plays later by carrying it all the way to Nebraska’s 5.
3. They could've quit, but didn't
This is a team that entered on a three-game losing streak, coming off of perhaps the most embarrassing loss in years to Northwestern.
Tonight initially looked like a continuation of last week’s train-wreck. They’ve struggled with slow starts all season, and tonight may have been the ugliest. The Badgers allowed an abysmal Nebraska offense to run up and down the field for an entire quarter.
If this Saturday was at all like last Saturday, they would’ve quit down 14. But they actually shifted the momentum, beginning with the 4th-and-1 stop. They transformed into a completely new team after that single play.
“We needed something to bring energy to the guys. To play complimentary football, first, one unit has to play well,” James Thompson said after the game. “We executed on fourth down, got the ball back to the offense, and you saw the team started rolling, and actually executing and moving the ball.”
Wisconsin could’ve still clinched bowl eligibility next weekend, but they would’ve entered Minnesota on a four-game losing streak. They’re more talented than the Gophers, but the Badgers’ confidence would’ve been at an all-time low.
As I mentioned, the defense tightened up and Mordecai made some crucial plays, but there was a collective determination that ultimately carried Wisconsin to a win.
“Tonight we started out not good enough, and we did the exact opposite of what I said was the number one thing we had to do. We had to come out and we had to start fast,” Fickell said. “We have to make sure we’re in a good place and do some good things in the first quarter, and we did the exact opposite.”
“They showed me that there was something deeper down inside… They had to dig a lot deeper tonight. We all had to dig a lot deeper tonight, because of the way we started and just the way things have gone the last few weeks.”
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