MADISON - The Wisconsin Badgers played their eighth game of the 2024 season and fifth conference game on Saturday evening, losing to the Penn State Nittany Lions underneath the Camp Randall lights, 28-13.

Here are my three biggest takeaways from Wisconsin’s loss.

At halftime, it seemed as if the Badgers were on their way to the first signature win of the Luke Fickell era. Against the No. 3 team in the country, they had a 10-7 lead and had the Camp Randall crowd at their loudest volume in years.

Then the second half began. All of their momentum evaporated out of thin air, especially on offense.

Penn State began to stifle the run (10 rushing yards in the entire second half), which brought down the rest of the offense, especially quarterback Braedyn Locke.

In the first half, he struggled until running back Tawee Walker ripped off a few big runs, which forced the linebackers to bite on play action and leave space in the middle of the defense. When Walker wasn’t as successful, the defense could no longer be faked. Locke looked like a different quarterback.

“Regardless of who’s at the quarterback position, if you can’t run the football, you can’t establish yourself and do a little better job on first down, you’re gonna put anybody there — especially against a defense like that with the ability they have — in a really difficult situation,” Fickell said after the game.

The Badger offense began the second half with a three-and-out, but the real back-breaker came the next time Wisconsin had the football.

Deep in their own territory, Locke threw an errant interception to Jaylen Reed, who easily returned it for a touchdown. Penn State took a 14-10 lead and never looked back. This play tilted the game in a way that, against such a talented team, felt irreversible.

“That’s one of those situations where you’re trying to find those momentum swings, whether it’s creating something special teams-wise, big plays, and that’s one that probably hurt as much as anything,” Fickell said.

“It puts a little more pressure back on the defense to understand we’re gonna have to make up some way, somehow for this.”

On the next drive, a 33-yard deep ball to C.J. Williams set up Nathanial Vakos’ second field goal of the day, but that was their last taste of offensive success until garbage time.

“We’ve been pretty good the past few weeks and poised enough to handle some of those situations, but that’s one that’s really difficult to overcome,” Fickell said. “And that’s probably one of the things we didn’t do, probably the thing we didn't do well enough.”

Penn State does have one of the best defenses in the country, entering No. 6 in the country in yards allowed per game. But the Badgers were manhandled on the ground in a way that made it nearly impossible to win.

The real reason the Badgers had a chance to win in the first half was the success of their defense.

They contained Penn State’s run game, allowing just 46 rushing yards on 3.3 per carry. Quarterback Drew Allar was playing efficiently (14-for-18 for 148 yards and one touchdown), but far from his best.

When it was announced at the start of the second half that Allar wouldn’t be returning due to injury, the game felt unloseable. The only Penn State player who was consistently creating problems for the Badger defense was now out of the game for good. The buzz in Camp Randall was palpable.

Enter Beau Pribula. The former three-star recruit had only thrown 27 passes in his two years at Penn State, serving as Allar’s backup for the entire time.

After a few of his first plays, I was even more confident in the defense’s chances. Most of them ended up as keepers or scrambles, and it didn’t look like the coaching staff was very confident in his passing ability.

But his mobility helped their run game, as the Badger defense could no longer zero in on one player. After he created some space and made the defense second guess themselves, the entire field opened up.

Pribula ended the day completing 10 straight passes to lead the comeback, and finished with a statline that nobody would have predicted after his first few plays (11-for-13 passing for 98 yards and one touchdown, along with 28 rushing yards).

“When he actually goes into the game and it becomes a little bit of a different game, that caused us some issues,” Fickell said.

“I don’t think we did a good enough job at making sure we understood what he was gonna do, but he also threw the football pretty darn well, too. He made some plays in the second half that were really, really big.”

When Pribula was able to both run and throw effectively, it was curtains for the Badgers.

This also opened the field up for running back Kaytron Allen, who ran for 57 yards on six carries in the second half and scored the dagger touchdown in the fourth quarter.

“We did a really good job handling a lot of the different things they did, even the first touchdown, being able to regroup and recognize and go back and not put ourselves in those situations where we’re turning those guys loose,” Fickell said.

“I’m not gonna say there was a tale of two halves, but there was definitely a different buzz in that second half… When they started running the football in the ways that they were, they made it really difficult on us.”

There were a lot of positives to be taken from the defensive performance, mostly in the first half, but letting a backup quarterback lead a second half comeback is still unacceptable for any respectable program.

An upset win was incredibly possible, and even seemed likely for a stretch. But the second half collapse was a reminder that Fickell’s Badgers have a long way to go before they’re on the same level of a team like Penn State.

In the first half, it was almost easy to forget about the talent disparity. But it became painfully evident as the game wore on.

For starters, the Nittany Lion defensive line never wavered or fatigued. They got bested a few times in the first half, but stayed strong and shut the Badgers down in the second. Wisconsin couldn’t rotate as many strong defensive linemen, and the Penn State running backs took advantage.

“Right now, as a program and as a team, we know that we have to hang our hats on each other. That’s a team right there we just got done playing that, if things aren’t going well, if their quarterback twists his knee, could probably hang their hat on the defense and probably get by for a bit. They’re that talented. That’s just not where we are. We know that we’ve got to get by with everybody doing their part and taking pride in it,” Fickell said.

But even beyond talent, the game showed that the Badgers are still lacking a necessary mental edge to truly ascend as a program.

The Nittany Lions faced real adversity and never blinked. They were down early in a tough stadium to play in, against a team they were predicted to beat. Their quarterback, who’s also their best player, suffered an injury and missed the entire second half. But they still found a way to stay focused and let their superior talent win out in the end.

Certain Badgers players and coaches have talked about fighting adversity in recent weeks, but it didn’t match what they faced on Saturday. Throwing an interception against Rutgers in the first half isn’t real adversity. Missing a field goal against Northwestern isn’t real adversity.

Locke throwing a pick six against the No. 3 team in the country was real adversity. And they shriveled up.

When asked if the program needs a breakthrough performance, the first thing Fickell said was “you gotta make those things happen”.

“At some point in time, you’ll look back and be able to say that there was something that happened that maybe changed things, but nothing’s gonna be handed to you. Especially in this league with the way it is now.

“What’s the breaking point? What’s the thing that puts you over the top? I don’t know. But that’s something that we’ve got to not sit and wait for. It’s something we’ve got to find a way to go out and make happen.”

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