MADISON - With the fourth quarter looming, Vito Calvaruso and the field goal unit marched to face the student section and looked at a 43-yard attempt to tie things up at 17.
The age-old tradition of Jump Around offered an opportunity to inject some life to the sidelines. Instead, the group looked flat while Washington State partied on its end. The energy, or lack there of, was something defensive leaders Keeanu Benton and Nick Herbig noticed throughout the third quarter.
"That’s our tradition, this is our thing and they’re having more fun than us out there," Benton said Monday morning. "That was one thing that made me mad - although losing makes me mad - but just things we could have controlled, we didn’t."
UW's lack of execution left the group staring at an early season defeat in a game it came in favored by 17 points. The unusual mental errors from Wisconsin manifested itself in 11 penalties and missed tackles that are uncharacteristic of the program.
"It just comes down to discipline and detail," Benton said. "Guys think it’s just going to happen out there because we are wearing this W on our chest, but it didn’t.
"They definitely heard something from me. I wasn’t too nice about it, but I feel like the point got across on what we needed to come out and do this week starting today. I think that even in the walk through you felt a difference and you feel that guys are taking into consideration what I said."
The program likely wants to put its performance in the 2021 regular season finale against Minnesota behind them. For sophomore running back Braelon Allen, who was held under 100 yards for just the second time as a featured back this past Saturday, felt a similar energy in the locker room.
"It kind of felt similar to the Minnesota game when the locker room is real flat, not a lot of energy" Allen said. "Guys are obviously ready to play but you didn’t feel it. I think that’s something we need to improve on and needs to be consistent throughout the year, no matter who we’re playing. Just having a high energy before the game and throughout the game.
"Everyone can try their best to get the team juiced up. But at the end of the day, if you’re not feeling it that day, there’s not much someone can do for you, so you’ve got to find it in yourself to bring that out. I think some guys struggled with that on Saturday."
Benton, a starter the past three seasons, felt the team needed an extra pop in the third quarter. Following the 31-yard catch and run for a touchdown from Nakia Watson to put the Cougars on top, Benton could be seen going over to the offensive huddle relaying a message.
"We didn’t have an edge, so it kind of made me mad that I’m trying to get everybody going and people are looking at me like I’m crazy," he said.
"I don’t like that, so I was challenging the defensive side of the ball and I was like, 'you know what, let me go to the offensive line, they looking a little dead, they're not talking to each other, they jumping offsides, try to get some passion in their heads,' and we still didn’t come away with a win."
The jolt wasn't exclusive to the offense. Benton felt the defense needed that extra kick as well.
"I tell the guys we were the same No. 1 defense in the nation last year," Benton said. "So whoever we play is going to come out and have that in their mind still. We can’t just lag off because we had it last year. We’re a whole new team. So we just got to bring those guys along and get everybody together to go out and get this win this week."
That kind of energy is something UW has seldom struggled with. The program has relied on principles of being smart, dependable and sound fundamentally. Throughout the evening Saturday, the team struggled to string together success.
The group did so in the second quarter with a punt that pinned WSU inside the 20-yard line, which resulted in a stop and subsequent touchdown. Coming out of the half, though, Wisconsin's special teams gifted that momentum right back, surrendering a 73-yard kickoff return to open the second half.
"That’s not the character of this W that we wear on our chest. In all the years I’ve been playing, I’ve never seen anything like that," Benton added. "At a point, it was like we’d given up.
"Throughout this whole practice, winter conditioning, we’ve been doing stuff to handle adversity. We’ll be done with the whole workout and coach would be like, 'oh, you thought you were done?' Adversity hits so we got more running to do. I feel like we’ve been handling it good, but then when it happens in a game with three points, a field goal and just kind of shut down. I don’t like the way guys did that."
The early stumble leaves room for doubt to creep in. In any case, the letdown came early with 10 games to go and all but one Big Ten West having already suffered a loss.
"Of course a loss puts doubt in your mind, especially losing to a team you feel you should win against, but our goals are still going to be the same goals," Benton said. "We have to take it week by week. We’ve got New Mexico (State) this week, we were going to have them this week no matter what."
"We have the chance to make our own decision on how we move forward," quarterback Graham Mertz added. "This group has had our fair share of things come at us, so I know they’re resilient and we will bounce back. We’ll be stronger than ever. We’ve proven that. This group needs to lean on each other and we will."
When it comes to figuring out where the lack of emotion came from, Herbig, Allen and Benton couldn’t come up with an answer. The group is simply glad it showed up early, allowing them to pick it up and maintain a level of energy the rest of the year.
“Honestly, I can’t tell you. I can’t pinpoint it. That’s something we’re going to have to figure out as a team,” Herbig said. We’re better than that. We’re Wisconsin and I felt it today for sure. The energy picked up. It’s a learning process, it’s a learning experience, but I promise you it’s never going to happen again.”
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