EVANSTON, Ill. — The mood inside Wisconsin’s football facility on the Sunday after a disheartening loss to USC three weeks ago was a combination of frustration and resolve. The Badgers had fallen apart in the second half, surrendering four unanswered touchdowns, and sat at 2-2 overall without having compiled even one full four-quarter performance.
It was one thing for players to know the results hadn’t been anywhere close to good enough. It was another thing for them to believe they were likely to achieve so much more.
“It was a really sick feeling,” Badgers inside linebacker Jaheim Thomas said. “But the main thing that we talked about going into the next week was to finish. Once we have our foot on their neck, make sure we finish it. That’s what we’ve been doing.”
The latest example of a midseason turnaround came during Wisconsin’s 23-3 victory against Northwestern at Lanny and Sharon Martin Stadium on Saturday afternoon. No, it wasn’t a particularly pretty performance. But it was a continuation of the physical, grind-it-out style with complementary football that Badgers coach Luke Fickell has wanted as the core identity of the program. Wisconsin (5-2, 3-1 Big Ten) has won three consecutive games and beaten Purdue, Rutgers and Northwestern by a combined score of 117-16.
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“You look at this last three-game stretch, this is how you respond,” Badgers safety Hunter Wohler said. “We start 2-2, struggling in some big moments a little bit. Yeah, you find yourself a little bit wondering where we’re at. But we couldn’t have responded better.”
Although Wisconsin’s last three opponents are just 2-10 in conference play, the Badgers have done everything they needed to do to give themselves a fighting chance as they arrive at one of the more difficult stretches on their schedule. That’s notable because recent Wisconsin teams haven’t always beaten the teams they were supposed to defeat. Wisconsin’s performance against Northwestern was an important step, in part, because the Wildcats embarrassed the Badgers last season — a word Fickell used after that game — during the lowest moment of Fickell’s first year.
Northwestern beat Wisconsin 24-10 at Camp Randall Stadium on a day when the Wildcats led by three touchdowns at halftime as the Badgers were booed off the field by their home fans. Fickell said Saturday the team “needed to rectify what happened last year” and that players approached the game with a different edge.
“We had a chip on our shoulder because we remember how they did us last year,” Badgers defensive lineman Curt Neal said. “We owed them an ass-whupping back.”
That’s the sound of a confident team backed by on-field evidence that had been lacking through four games. Wisconsin’s offense didn’t click against Northwestern as well as it had the previous two games. But the Badgers continued to demonstrate toughness behind a rushing attack that finished with 199 yards on 43 carries.
No matter what the passing game looks like — quarterback Braedyn Locke finished 14-of-24 for 160 yards with one touchdown, one interception and a lost fumble — the ground game will form the backbone of the approach. Wisconsin has rushed for 736 yards during its three-game winning streak, with tailback Tawee Walker amassing 417 of them.
“You always want to score 40 and 50 and throw for a lot of yards, run for a lot of yards,” Locke said. “That’s the fun part. But sometimes you’ve got to grind them out, and that’s what we did today.
“I just think this team can have a lot of confidence moving forward. We’ve been explosive on offense. We’ve been methodical. We’ve won some tough games. We can win in the trenches. We can win in different ways.”
For as much as the offense has been a talking point all season, both good and bad, Wisconsin’s defense and special teams units are worth discussing because they have strung together some outstanding moments. Charlie Jarvis partially blocked a punt, and Ben Barten blocked a 28-yard field goal attempt against Northwestern. Punter Atticus Bertrams downed kicks at the 1- and 5-yard line. The defense was even better, continuing an upswing that has been eye-opening.
Outside linebacker John Pius forced a fumble on a sack that defensive lineman Elijah Hills recovered at the Northwestern 3-yard line just before halftime during a sequence that defined the day. When Badgers running back Cade Yacamelli scored the next play on a 3-yard touchdown run, Wisconsin led 14-0 and the game was effectively over because of how well the defense held up. Neal and outside linebacker Sebastian Cheeks later combined on a safety to account for the final points.
Northwestern quarterback Jack Lausch completed 9 of 24 passes for 82 yards. That means opposing quarterbacks have completed just 33 of 78 passes (42.3 percent) for 302 yards with no touchdowns and one interception the past three games.
“When you start to hear some decent things, when you start to see them, too, there’s a chance that you can become a little bit complacent,” Fickell said. “Being here for a year and a half, we haven’t been able to say that word once.
“But I do worry as things grow because this league is incredibly challenging. There’s an incredible mountain ahead of us that we know we’ve got to continue to climb. The most important thing for us is to continue to get better. I feel like that’s the case right now with this group.”
Fickell has referred to that mountain to climb on multiple occasions this season. He said he wasn’t referring to any specific segment of the schedule as much as he was ensuring Wisconsin played its best football at the end of the year. Fickell noted he believed Wisconsin was headed in that direction based on what he’d seen during Tuesday and Wednesday practices, which are the toughest, most physical days of the week. Where some people might suggest backing off, Fickell said he and his players take pride in the work required to raise the bar.
The next mountain begins Saturday with a prime-time game against 6-0 Penn State, ranked No. 3 in the country (Oregon, unbeaten and ranked No. 2, looms in four weeks). Fickell is 0-4 in games against ranked teams as Wisconsin coach, and a victory against the Nittany Lions would represent a major breakthrough on multiple fronts. Wisconsin hasn’t beaten a top-three team since taking down No. 1 Ohio State 14 years ago this week.
There’s a lot of work to do and plenty to prove. But at least the Badgers are beginning to demonstrate they’re on the right path to achieving more.
“This team, we’re getting better,” Fickell said. “We know where we need to go. We know we’re not there. But there’s definitely a spirit in how they’re doing it.”
(Top photo of Will Pauling: Quinn Harris / Getty Images)
