The Wisconsin Badgers suffered a 17-7 loss on the road to the No. 12 UCLA Bruins in a game where they struggled with penalties and couldn’t get off the field defensively. The defeat dropped them to 4-2 on the season and took away their chance at potentially being ranked next week after they were the top team out of the AP Top 25 this week.
The Badgers started with the ball after UCLA won the toss and chose to defer. Wisconsin quickly got wide receiver Jaylon Domingeaux involved in his season debut,
hitting him on the first play of the game for a three-yard catch. Wisconsin was able to get a first down, focusing on the ground, but they played conservatively, running the ball on a 3rd & 10 from their own 38 before punting to play the field position game.
Their strategy didn’t pan out, as UCLA went 16 plays and 84 yards for a field goal drive that lasted 8 minutes and 42 seconds. Wisconsin consistently got the Bruins into third downs, but UCLA converted five straight third downs before settling for a field goal inside the 10-yard line. The Badgers recovered well to force the field goal, but the Bruins mainly looked underneath to move the ball on their opening drive with quarterback Ty Dieffenbach.
Wisconsin had some life after a huge Colton Joseph scramble, but an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty sent them back to their own 42-yard line. Wisconsin then had an ineligible man downfield penalty on 2nd & 15 and a questionable illegal block in the back called against them on 3rd down, forcing them into a 3rd & 25. Still, the Badgers got back to midfield with a 23-yard catch by Jaylon Domingeaux, setting up 4th & 2 at the 50-yard line.
However, despite it looking like a prime go opportunity, Luke Fickell played things conservatively again, going the field-position direction and punting it away. Once again, UCLA made the Badgers pay, although there were a few controversial missed calls against the Bruins on the drive.
UCLA ended up going 13 plays and 91 yards for a touchdown, getting a 10-0 lead while eating up another 7:34 of clock. This drive was more troubling for Wisconsin’s defense, as there were a couple of missed tackles, but officiating became a constant thought in the heads of fans during the drive, thanks to a missed potential offensive pass interference on a huge third-down conversion for the Bruins.
Still, the story was the same: despite defending the run quite well, the Badgers could not get off the field on third down, allowing for another long drive, with Wayne Knight rushing it in on a one-yard touchdown.
Wisconsin did get a good start to their next drive with a 17-yard Abu Sama run, motioning him from the edge as he got great blocks from Chris Brooks and Ryan Schwendeman on the run. However, the drive was quickly derailed as Wisconsin ran on first down for minimal gain, Colton Joseph made a questionable handoff read on second down for no gain, and the quarterback missed Chris Brooks wide on a third-down dropback where he could’ve dumped it off to the running back to set up a potential go-for situation on fourth down near midfield.
Nonetheless, Wisconsin’s defense was able to get pressure on the next drive, forcing a quick three-and-out and giving the Badgers offense a chance. Wisconsin threw on first down, resulting in a 17-yard completion to Chris Brooks, and finally got the ball moving with the half winding down. Wisconsin got to the UCLA 18-yard line, and Joseph delivered a dime to Malachi Coleman on a 2nd & 9, but the diving wideout couldn’t make the catch. Joseph was sacked on third down, and Gavin Lahm missed a 45-yard field goal, keeping the score 10-0 UCLA at halftime.
The Badgers did get a gift to start the second half, though. A great Javan Robinson open-field tackle went for a loss of three. That eventually forced UCLA into a 3rd & 13 well in their own territory, and the Bruins tried to get creative with a trick play with a Semaj Morgan pass. Morgan was hit hard by Posa on the throw, which was deflected in the air and intercepted by Marvin Burks.
Posa was flagged for unsportsmanlike conduct on the drive, forcing Wisconsin to go 59 yards for a touchdown, but they did it on 11 plays, cutting the lead to 10-7. This was a very creative drive from Jeff Grimes, who gave the UCLA defense a lot of eye candy with the number of different runs that Wisconsin showed. The Badgers consistently moved the ball on the ground, calling 10 runs to just one pass (an incompletion at goal-to-go), and Joseph, who was the difference-maker on the drive, punched it in with a three-yard touchdown on a quarterback draw.
Wisconsin’s defense struggled a bit on their next drive. Bryce West was late to react on a 3rd & 4 bubble screen that resulted in a first down. After a big sack from Nicolas Clayton on 1st down, the Badgers gave up 13 yards on a 2nd & 26 screen, then Matt Jung lost his receiver as Ty Dieffenbach scrambled out of the pocket, allowing UCLA to convert a 3rd & 13.
Penalties hurt the Bruins, though, and Mike Tressel dialed up a nice call on 4th & 4, getting pressure on the quarterback, who made a late throw on a slant to running back Wayne Knight. That allowed Jung to deliver a hit on Knight as the pass was thrown, breaking up the play and forcing a turnover on downs.
Wisconsin opened their next drive with a big play on a screen to Jacob Harris, thanks to great perimeter blocking. The Badgers were awarded a 15-yard facemask penalty as well, giving them field position at the UCLA 39-yard line. But unfortunately, they could not take advantage of the field position once again, punting on 4th & 10 in plus territory. Here, Wisconsin called just one run on the sequence of plays after 10 runs on the drive before.
Hoping to play the field position game for a third time, the Badgers were spurned by their defense once again. Despite UCLA having the ball on 1st & 18 at their three-yard line, the Bruins went 94 yards in just six plays to score their second touchdown of the game and go up 17-7 with 11:31 left. Getting by a missed holding call that could’ve resulted in a safety, Dieffenbach had a great throw for 28 yards to get UCLA out of poor field position. Three plays later, he ripped a ball up the seam on a well-designed play to an open Samaj Morgan for a huge 33-yard gain.
Matt Jung was also called for targeting on the play, ejecting him from the game and giving UCLA the ball at the 17-yard line. Two plays later, they punched the ball in for a touchdown.
Down 10 points with just over 11 minutes to go, the Badgers needed urgency and points fast. And they went back to the run game, going for five runs on seven plays. Things started strong, as Colton Joseph weaved through a few defenders for a nine-yard gain on a first-down keeper. The Badgers took a deep shot to Malachi Coleman, who appeared to be held on his route, but the ball was underthrown and nearly intercepted off the tip. Darrion Dupree got 10 yards on 3rd & short to move the chains, but trouble hit Wisconsin there.
Wisconsin got just one yard on the first-down run, then had a brutal drop from Tyrell Henry on a well-blocked screen to set up 3rd & 9. The Badgers went to the ground game again, calling Colton Joseph’s number for another keeper, which got them to 4th & 3. There, the Badgers went to Darrion Dupree, who initially got the first down, but it was overturned on replay review, prompting a turnover on downs. It also appeared that Dupree’s facemask was grabbed on the fourth down.
The Badgers were able to get a quick three-and-out, stopping the run once again on second down, giving their offense a chance with 6:33 left in the fourth quarter. But the offense had no life. Wisconsin went with another quarterback keeper on first down, getting two yards. A botched snap forced a throwaway on second down, and Joseph was caught trying to scramble out of the pocket on third down.
Inexplicably, after that, with 4:54 left in the game down 10 points, Luke Fickell elected to punt, which felt like waving the white flag with a complete lack of confidence in the offense. At the very least, if the Badgers didn’t convert, they could shorten UCLA’s drive by trying to hold them to a field goal, getting the ball back quickly while keeping things a two-score game.
Wisconsin’s offense never got another real shot, as UCLA converted two crucial third downs to seal the deal and send the Badgers home.
With the loss, Wisconsin falls to 4-2, raising more questions about the program as they head into another big week, facing the No. 19 USC Trojans at home next weekend.
