Wisconsin football report card from 31-7 loss to No. 2 Indiana
Handing out grades for the Wisconsin Badgers offense, defense, and special teams from the 31-7 road loss to No. 2 Indiana in Week 12.
Sometimes the final score tells you everything you need to know. Other times, it only tells you how the game ended. The University of Wisconsin football team’s 31–7 loss at No. 2 Indiana falls into the latter.
Against Curt Cignetti at Memorial Stadium, the Badgers (3–7, 1–6 Big Ten) walked in with a true freshman quarterback making his first career start, a backfield held together by tape, and a roster that’s been pushed to its breaking point for two straight seasons. And for 30 minutes, they traded blows with one of the best teams in the country. They controlled tempo, they dictated style, they played disciplined football, and they looked like a group fully bought into competing — even while shorthanded again.
But football is a 60-minute proposition, and once the dam cracked early in the third quarter, Indiana reminded everyone why it’s sitting at the top of the sport right now. Explosives piled up, missed opportunities from the first half resurfaced, injuries mounted, and the margin for error, already razor-thin, evaporated. The final score will say Wisconsin got handled, but the first half will say that they belonged. Both things can be true.
This wasn’t a moral victory, and nobody in that locker room will treat it like one. However, it was a snapshot of what this team could look like when it plays as a cohesive unit, applies pressure on defense, and allows its young core to grow through real adversity. Luke Fickell acknowledged afterward that it was a tale of two halves, but wrestled with the frustration of a team capable of competing, yet still learning how to finish.
“Obviously, that was a tale of two halves,” Fickell said. “The first half, to be honest with you, was kind of how you would draw it up for us. Methodically doing some things, eliminating big plays other than one defensively. I think that was the idea of where we want to play right now, and the complementary idea of what football has to look like for us.
“The second half was not that. It was the exact opposite. We gave up big plays, turned the ball over, and just where we are right now, it’s really difficult for us to overcome those types of things. We’ve seen that earlier at times this year, but it hurts a hell of a lot more when you’ve seen how we can play in that first half. I’m not going to say, “Oh, we had it,” but seeing how we can play, the things we’re capable of doing — and then not doing it in the second half — it hurts. You have to be able to overcome all kinds of things in the face of adversity, and we weren’t able to do that.”
And that’s where this season sits: caught between flashes of late-season progress and the weight of what’s already gone wrong. The Badgers didn’t rewrite the season’s narrative down in Bloomington. But they did show why the upcoming offseason matters so much, and why these final weeks still hold value for a roster leaning heavily on its younger players.
With that as the backdrop, let’s hand out some grades.
Offense: D+
This grade takes context into account, and the context is brutal.
Wisconsin played this game with its fourth-string quarterback, lost its top remaining running back, and asked a true freshman making his first career start to go blow-for-blow with the No. 2 team in the country on the road.
The results reflected that reality. Wisconsin finished with just 168 total yards of offense (98 passing, 70 rushing), went 2-for-11 on third down, averaged 3.7 yards per play, and turned the ball over twice. It was the kind of box score that tells you exactly how thin the margin for error was.
From an efficiency standpoint, the numbers paint the same picture.
According to Game on Paper, Wisconsin finished the day at –0.07 EPA per play (32nd percentile nationally). They generated 0.06 EPA per dropback (52nd percentile) and posted -0.13 EPA per rush (28th percentile) as the run game stalled once Indiana adjusted in the second half. Nothing about the performance was explosive or sustainable over the course of four quarters. It was a team holding on for dear life with what it had left.
That said, for 30 minutes, Carter Smith managed to hold it together. He gave Wisconsin’s offense something it hasn’t consistently had on that side of the ball: competence, poise, and a clear game plan built for him.
The opening possession: 13 plays, 48 yards, and 7:39 off the clock, was exactly how Jeff Grimes had to script the game. Quick decisions. Manageable reads. Run the ball, slow the game down, and keep Heisman contender Fernando Mendoza on the opposing sideline. Smith went 3-for-4 for 32 yards on the drive, and the operation looked functional.
Unfortunately, Nathanial Vakos pushed a 45-yard field goal wide left, and Wisconsin walked away empty. That ended up becoming a pattern.
Smith finished 9-of-15 for 98 yards passing with a touchdown, an interception, a fumble, and five yards rushing. A mixed bag, but entirely predictable for a freshman thrown into the deep end.
If there was a surprise, it’s that Wisconsin didn’t tap into Smith’s legs as often as you’d think for a mobile QB. Instead, they tried to piece together a complementary rushing attack using players like Jackson Acker, Trech Kekahuna, and even Vinny Anthony in certain spots.
“In order to win, you’re gonna need to take some chances,” Fickell said. “To think you’re gonna methodically drive 12, 13 plays against a really good football team is not easy. So we had to turn him [Smith] loose a little bit more, and unfortunately, it didn’t always work out for us.
“Fumbling the ball is the one that probably hurts the most. The throw down there late, yeah, frustrating, but you’re in a position where everybody would be upset if we weren’t trying to stretch the field. You get to that moment where we’ve got to find out what this kid can do and give him chances to play a little bit more. And that is what we felt like we had to be able to do.”
His best moment came early: a beautifully disguised fourth-and-1 play-action shot that sprung Lance Mason for a 45-yard touchdown. The design was sharp. The throw was on the money. It was football nirvana.
But the second half exposed the reality behind the box score. Indiana tightened the screws, shut down the run game, and dared Wisconsin to win through the air. When running back Gideon Ituka was carted off after nine carries for 32 yards in a moment that shook the entire sideline, the Badgers’ offense lost the only consistent physical presence it had left.
Fickell tried to keep the team grounded.
“I’ve been in those situations before,” Fickell said. “I think we felt like he was gonna be okay. And, try to remind them that Gideon’s gonna be fine. Not that we know everything at that point in time. But, you’ve got to just kind of reassure them in the moment. He is still obviously being evaluated in a lot of ways. But they feel good about where he [Ituka] is.”
However, the production never recovered. Wisconsin managed just 23 yards after halftime and was outgained 229–23 over the final 30 minutes.
Smith’s fourth-quarter interception was a freshman mistake. Eyes fixed on the target, an easy pick for Devan Boykin, and the fumble was equally costly. But the truth is pretty simple: this iteration of Wisconsin’s offense just isn’t built to play from behind right now. Not with this level of attrition.
Wisconsin couldn’t earn much of anything after halftime. The early game plan made sense. The second-half execution collapsed under the weight of the moment and the reality that they were simply out-talented. Grimes didn’t have enough cards to play, and the offense eventually folded.
The offense gets a D+ because it reflects both truths. They fought hard, the limitations were obvious, but they never had a real chance to win.
Defense: C+
There were long stretches, especially in the first half, where the defense played well enough to win. Wisconsin got five sacks on one of the most efficient quarterbacks in college football and top-10 offenses nationally.