EVANSTON, Ill. – It was a stay of execution from the governor, a chance for the University of Wisconsin to make amends.
The Badgers were an eyelash from going down 14-0 in the opening six minutes, saved by a replay review that took a touchdown off the board and an ensuing fumble by the tailback that gave Wisconsin the ball at its own 20. The new fortune gave the Badgers the spark for an 80-yard drive, complete with a 49-yard touchdown pass to tie the game.
That’s where the good news ended, as Wisconsin’s lack of depth at critical positions played havoc with a young quarterback trying to solve a top-edge defense in an ugly 17-7 loss to Northwestern Saturday afternoon.
After rolling through bottom-feeding Illinois and Michigan by a combined score of 94-18, Wisconsin met its match with a top-15 total, scoring and rush defense. The Badgers committed five turnovers – four off the arm of its young quarterback – and never could right the ship by putting plays together, going 3-for-16 on third down hindering that process.
It’s a reason why the Wildcats – a 3-9 team a year ago that went 1-8 in conference play – now find itself in the driver’s seat to win the Big Ten West Division for the second time in three seasons.
“We did some good things but were inconsistent and obviously didn’t do the things to sustain drives,” head coach Paul Chryst said. “There’s times where we put ourselves in some pre-snap penalties, some things that make it harder against a good defense.”
Wisconsin (2-1) knew its offense was going to be rebuilding to a degree at the skill positions in 2020, especially after juniors Jonathan Taylor and Quintez Cephus headed to the NFL. The Badgers entered the abbreviated season with a lot of options at tailback, although no game-changer like Taylor, and UW had two senior receivers at Danny Davis and Kendric Pryor but had a large age gap
Over three games, the Badgers appear to have found the answer at tailback. Jalen Berger ran for 93 yards on 15 carries. Put another way, he ran for 1.2 more yards than the Wildcats allowed as a team through four games. With Nakia Watson and Garrett Groshek struggling between the tackles and Isaac Guerendo on the shelf, Berger has emerged as the bell-cow back for the Badgers as he gets closer to breaking off a big play.
“I do think he’s earned rights for (more playing time),” Chryst said of Berger.
Receiver depth is another story. The other two receivers in addition to Davis in UW’s 2017 recruiting class – Cade Green and Emmet Perry – are off the roster following injury-marred careers. UW signed four receivers in 2018 but Aron Cruickshank transfer to Rutgers, Guerendo was moved to tailback and A.J. Abbott and Taj Mustapha have hardly played. Stephan Bracey – the lone commit in 2019 – has just started making an impact on special teams but has seen few offensive snaps.
The combination of injuries, transfers and lack of production forced UW to rely heavily on Jack Dunn and Adam Krumholz, a pair of senior walk-ons. Throw in the lack of experience behind tight end Jake Ferguson and the Badgers’ skill positions are top heavy with little room for error.
That wasn’t a problem for quarterback Graham Mertz when he set the world on fire with his record-breaking performance against Illinois and came back off the COVID list to beat a bad Michigan team. It was entirely different against Northwestern, which mixed pressures and were able to figure out the quarterback’s progressions.
The result was 18 incompletions on 41 attempts, several off-balanced throws, three interceptions and a fumble, as Mertz too often tried to force passes or couldn’t attempt a quality one because his young/inexperienced receivers couldn’t get open.
“It’s next man up here,” Mertz said. “We always preach that. I never lost confidence in the guys. I knew they were going to go out there and make plays. I’m proud of how they worked.”
Despite all the problems on offense, the game was winnable because of Wisconsin’s defense. The Badgers recovered from its near brush early in the first quarter to hold Northwestern to 177 yards and 10 points in the final three quarters.
Wisconsin held Northwestern to 24 rushing yards, fought through four defensive pass interference calls that gave Northwestern’s free yards and delivered 13 quarterback hurries. Only problem is that UW’s defense had to play perfectly to overcome the turnovers, and only sacking NU quarterback Peyton Ramsey once and forcing a single turnover hurt.
“I thought as a defense we were doing a good job being physically,” inside linebacker Leo Chenal, who finished second on the team with six tackles. “We kept them to very few yards rushing and we take pride in that. We’re just trying to do our job, and that’s all we’re trying to do, put our head down and work no matter what the outcome was.”
The outcome fit in well with the narrative of the Badgers at Ryan Field – just not good enough.
