Wisconsin's abbreviated 2020 campaign came to a close inside Bank of America Stadium on Wednesday with its 42-28 win over Wake Forest in the Duke's Mayo Bowl.

Overall, UW (4-3 overall, 3-3 Big Ten) will finish above .500 once again for the 19th straight season, and Paul Chryst-led teams now have gone 5-1 during bowl games in his tenure as head coach.

This season could have been one that was never played during this COVID-19 pandemic, especially when the Big Ten canceled its football schedule in August. However, the conference reversed course and set path for a late October start. Though the Wisconsin faithful could not watch from the Camp Randall Stadium stands, the cardinal and white still put together a winning year and provided some memories in this modified, funhouse mirror of a season.

BadgerBlitz.com looked back on the season that was and gathered some takeaways from the seven games played heading into an offseason of intrigue for Wisconsin.

This truncated season allowed older players like left tackle Cole Van Lanen, defensive end Isaiahh Loudermilk and safety Eric Burrell to put more film on tape to perhaps entrance those at the next level. This year also showed once again that first-year Badgers could influence the program in not only pointing towards a future trajectory, but produce results on the field early.

With the defense needing to replace the presence of the NFL-bound Zack Baun, true freshman Nick Herbig jumped in and tied for first in the team lead in tackles for loss (six) and placed fourth in the team in tackles (26).

The rushing attack did not have Jonathan Taylor, and no one was going to replace the 6,000-plus yards he accumulated on the ground in three years. However, we saw a glimmer of what first-year back Jalen Berger could do. In four games, he led the team in rushing yards (301) on five yards per carry to go along with five touchdowns.

It should be interesting just how Berger continues to emerge, and just how Wisconsin can utilize him both as a runner and in the passing game out of the backfield.

Seniors Danny Davis and Kendric Pryor missed a combined nine games (five and four, respectively). Though the dynamic abilities of the offense were substantially lowered, their respective absences from the field allowed Chimere Dike to receive valuable reps at wide receiver. The Waukesha (WI) North product caught 12 passes for 189 yards (15.8 yards per catch) and a touchdown.

In Alvis Whitted's room, one even saw Devin Chandler display some flashes as well. The North Carolina native caught two passes for 28 yards against Iowa, but he also ran an 18-yard reverse against Wake Forest during the Duke's Mayo Bowl on a series that eventually ended with a go-ahead touchdown catch by fullback Mason Stokke.

Chandler, who played in four contests overall in 2020, also took back a kickoff 59 yards against the Demon Deacons in his return to "The Tar Heel State" that provided momentum for the Badgers' third touchdown of the game.

"Glad we got him and certainly think he's got some ability," head coach Paul Chryst said of Chandler on Wednesday after the bowl game. "He's young and needs to have a great offseason. He's capable of some big plays and has some skill.

"Actually, I like all three of our young receivers that we have. 'Chim' was really good this year in a lot of ways, and Isaac Smith did a really good job in kind of the way he worked, but Devin, it was neat for him. Went to senior year here in the area, and those are big plays for us. Certainly the kickoff return was blocked up real well, and he did a nice job on it. We kind of talked about it earlier that every every rep is so valuable, and he gave himself a chance to get some of those and meaningful opportunities, and certainly got to build on it."

Outside linebacker Aaron Witt recorded two tackles for loss (including a strip-sack) against Wake Forest, and the former Iowa and Minnesota commit played in five games overall. For that matter, Tanor Bortolini needed to play extensively at center against Indiana with Kayden Lyles suffering an in-game injury while Cormac Sampson was unavailable that game.

Others to see playing time in their first year at Wisconsin, according to UW's participation log, included outside linebackers Kaden Johnson and Riley Nowakowski (two and four games, respectively), defensive linemen Cade McDonald and James Thompson, Jr., (two and one, respectively), offensive lineman Jack Nelson (one), kicker Jack Van Dyke (seven), and inside linebacker Preston Zachman (one).

It was a season filled with highs and lows for the Overland Park, Kan., native. He started off hot with his record-tying/record-setting performance against Illinois where he completed 20-of-21 passes for 248 yards with five touchdowns to no interceptions.

Then came reports of a positive COVID-19 test, which he detailed the various symptoms after the win at Michigan, and the program as a whole canceled the next two games against Nebraska and Purdue before resuming Big Ten play against the Wolverines on Nov. 14.

After his phenomenal performance against the Illini, Mertz leveled off in his redshirt freshman campaign. Overall in seven games, he finished completing 61.1% of his throws for 1,238 yards with nine touchdown passes to five interceptions.

Since the Illinois blowout, his accuracy seemingly dipped. That could be due to the fact of missing weapons at particular positions -- notable after the Michigan win in that regard -- but also his youthfulness as a signal caller. He completed only 60% of his throws just twice since the opener, and those came against Minnesota and Wake Forest in the final two games of the season.

Prior to the Duke's Mayo Bowl, Mertz had contributed just one touchdown pass in the last four Big Ten games compared to five picks, three of which came in the loss at Northwestern. Against the Demon Deacons, however, he rebounded to hit on 11 of 17 passes for 130 yards with one touchdown, but most importantly, no turnovers. Mertz also scored two touchdowns on quarterback keepers, and the offense as a whole against their ACC opponent crossed the goal line in all six opportunities in the red zone.

"He did go through a lot, right? A lot of the ups and downs, and I think that that can be a natural part of any time you're competing," Chryst said of Mertz on Wednesday via Zoom. "I think he's learned it and will continue to learn that times may be that, but the more you can stay consistent and stay steady, and it'll be a great offseason for him to learn. Great offseason for him to be able to grow from the experiences that he's had.

"I believe he's [the] type of guy that will do that. Really we're talking specifically about Graham right now, but every guy needs to take that approach. Every coach needs to take that approach."

It is interesting to compare Mertz's first season under center compared to his direct predecessor, Jack Coan. The latter -- who will be transferring from UW -- had the luxury of having Taylor in the backfield and an offensive line boasting All-Americans, though the former also played in more games. Both were second-year players at the time.

In five contests in 2018 -- four of them starts -- Coan completed 60.2% of his throws for 515 yards (average of 103 yards through the air) with five touchdowns and three interceptions.

The season thereafter in his first full year as a starter, Coan hit on 69.6% on his passes for 2,727 yards and 18 touchdowns to just five interceptions. It will bear watching just how Mertz develops during this offseason, along with others at key skill positions (more on that in a bit).

Before the bowl game, Mertz reflected on this season, what he discovered regarding himself, and where he believes he could improve upon heading into 2021.

"I think that especially this season, there's a lot to learn as far as just playing the game and truly knowing like, alright, down and distance, what we're trying to get here, stuff like that and just truly learning and growing in that sense," Mertz said on Dec. 26 via Zoom. "Then mentally, I feel like that's one area where I've grown a ton this year. I said that last year, but this year, it was a big leap mentally. So for me, it's just gonna be continuing to just grow and footwork, timing, everything like that, nailing it down in the spring.

"Once we get done with the season, I can take a step back and then do a little cut up of all my incompletions, all my completions and then try to map out my offseason training plan. Definitely, there's always stuff to learn, always stuff that you got to grow on and adapt. So it'll be a really, really good offseason."

Yes, Jim Leonhard's unit gave up a season-high 518 yards, including 407 through the air, and allowed 7-of-16 third-down conversions against Wake Forest during the midweek matinee. Yet it still held the Demon Deacons to 3.2 yards per carry overall and came up with four key turnovers on back-to-back-to-back-to-back series in the second half that sparked the Badgers to victory.

Wisconsin did not get home to opposing quarterbacks compared to the 50-plus sacks it had in 2019, recording just 11 in seven contests this season. That will need to improve next year, but the defense still swarmed to stuff the run and make opposing offenses one-dimensional.

As of Dec. 31, UW still ranks in the following categories nationally:

*First in total defense (263.5 yards per game)

*Fifth in third-down conversions (28.7%) and rush defense (96.1)

*Ninth in scoring defense (17.4)

*14th in team passing efficiency defense (116.23)

*33rd in passing yards allowed (203.7)

A lot of credit should be given to Leonhard, the position coaches, but also all the players who stepped up this year.

Now without any doubt - this happens every year - but 2021 will come with particular areas to watch.

Without Davis, Pryor, and Berger -- among others -- Wisconsin's offense was hampered this season. It allowed some players to gain meaningful reps in conference contests, and heading into this offseason -- winter conditioning, spring ball, summer conditioning, fall camp -- we will see who grows and develops further.

Honing in on the offensive side of the ball, we know that Berger could become a potential game-changing tailback, but who else in that room steps up? Looking at a pair of redshirt sophomores, Nakia Watson gained just 191 yards on 3.6 yards per carry in a handful of contests, and Isaac Guerendo only played against Illinois in late October. Can Julius Davis, Brady Schipper or potentially the three incoming backs from the 2021 class propel up the depth chart?

Based on a Dec. 29 tweet from Inside USC's Scott Wolf, could UW be in the market for a transfer like ex-Trojans contributor Markese Stepp? That appears to be an avenue to watch moving forward.

That's just for the running back position. What also compounds the question here lies in who will actually return to Wisconsin. Despite the potential opportunity of that occurring, you can expect some seniors to leave. Some will stay. Staying in the backfield, will Garrett Groshek been seen in John Settle's room again in 2021?

At wide receiver, will Davis and Pryor find themselves suiting up for the cardinal and white next year? Offensive coordinator Joe Rudolph was asked a question along those lines on Dec. 16.

We mentioned Dike, Chandler and Smith previously, but can others in the group like redshirt sophomores Taj Mustapha and A.J. Abbott become frequent contributors in the group? Does Jack Dunn, who was second on the team in receptions this season, come back?

For the 2021 class, Wisconsin signed two athletic receivers in Markus Allen and Skyler Bell. Like Dike and Chandler this year, can the out-of-state products find the field early on in their careers?

We can apply this question for other positions on offense as well. Behind Jake Ferguson, who takes the next steps at tight end, especially in the passing game? The redshirt junior discussed the development in Mickey Turner's room earlier this week.

"The whole tight end group has come a long way," Ferguson told reporters via Zoom on Dec. 28. "[Hayden] Rucci, Clay Cundiff, and [Jack] Eschenbach, those guys have been working their tail off. I couldn't imagine myself after that first year, if I didn't have a spring ball, that's literally where I gained all my knowledge, how I got really good at my technique, blocking or route running, whatever. And they didn't get that this year, and I think that's really tough on them. Not just physically, but mentally as well. Just not being able to learn, day in, day out, getting all the coaching.

"But, I mean, hats off to those guys coming out this year and being able to work and being able to really take in all that information and apply it to the field with such little time for prep. Those guys, those three, it's crazy how hard they're working and how far they've come and how good they are."

On defense, which players continue to jockey for game reps at cornerback without junior Rachad Wildgoose (for sure) and potentially Caesar Williams will be an annual affair to keep track of. However, Williams told reporters on Dec. 26 that he "wouldn't entirely say I've committed to a decision yet."

At outside linebacker, with a group that contributed four sacks total in seven games, who positions themselves for snaps and can get to the quarterback more consistently? At defensive line and safety, how does the depth shape up?

Kudos is much deserved for the in-state lineman as he jumped back into the game he left. The class of 2015 signee returned to the Wisconsin football program this season, and he started all seven games. Pro Football Focus graded him as a 73.6 on 437 snaps in 2020.

What stands out about Dietzen, like a few before him, was his versatility along the line. He started the season-opener at right guard before moving to left guard for the next four games. Then for the last two contests, he swung out to left tackle with Van Lanen unavailable.

In a season where we saw opt outs, players sidelined and games canceled, this was a fun story to see and cover.