The Wisconsin football team couldn’t close against the No. 3 Penn State Nittany Lions, falling 28-13 at home. With the loss, the Badgers are now 0-5 against ranked opponents under Luke Fickell.
The Badgers had a real chance here, but questionable playcalling and a brutal turnover sealed their fate. This was a considerable step up in competition, and you could say the fact they competed at all was a positive, but the fact that it was self-inflicted wounds stings.
Here are my grades for Wisconsin’s offense, defense, and special teams from Saturday night’s loss.
Wisconsin Football Offense Grade: D
Penn State did exactly what it needed to do by not allowing UW to get into a rhythm on the ground. This Nittany Lions defensive front was able to thwart Wisconsin’s rushing attack, allowing just 81 rushing yards on 27 attempts. Tawee Walker was able to cash in for the Badgers’ sole touchdown but logged just 59 rushing yards on 22 attempts.
Braedyn Locke threw a back-breaking pick-six over halfway into the third quarter, marking his fifth straight game with an interception. The redshirt sophomore wasn’t exactly dealing prior to that INT, but that’s not entirely on him, considering UW’s receivers had multiple drops. Locke completed 22 of his 42 pass attempts for 217 yards and an interception on the day, which is about par for the course.