Wisconsin Badgers lose ReliaQuest Bowl: Here’s what stood out
UW didn’t end the first season of the Luke Fickell era on a high note.
The Wisconsin Badgers (7-6, 5-4 B1G) traveled down to Raymond James Stadium and capped off year one of the Luke Fickell era with a 35-31 ReliaQuest Bowl loss to the No. 13 LSU Tigers.
Here are a few things that stood out from the Badgers season finale loss to Brian Kelly and the Tigers.
Wisconsin’s Offense Finally Balled Out
It may have taken until the last game of the season, but the Wisconsin Badgers air raid offense under Phil Longo finally took flight, even if it didn’t result in a win.
In the loss to LSU, the Wisconsin football offense produced its highest scoring output since September on the back of starting quarterback Tanner Mordecai. The Texas native completed 27-of-40 pass attempts for 378 yards and three touchdown passes en route to becoming the first Badgers signal caller to throw for 300+ yards since 2019.
It also helped to have a healthy Will Pauling back at wide receiver, who caught eight passes for 143 yards and two touchdowns. Pauling, alongside Bryson Green, who hauled in seven catches for 105 yards and a touchdown of his own, became the first two Wisconsin Badgers wideouts to eclipse 100+ receiving yards this season.
Hell, even the running game made an impact without Braelon Allen. The duo of Jackson Acker and Cade Yacamelli carried the ball 21 times for 131 yards and a score on an impressive 6.2 yards per carry.
Final drive aside, because, good God, that was an ugly way to end the game, Longo’s offense totaled 506 yards playing complimentary football and finished with an average of 6.8 yards per play.
I don’t want to get too negative this fresh off a loss, and we’ll have all offseason to dissect some of this coaching staff’s shortcomings, but Luke Fickell and Longo both contributed to come head-scratching play-calling decisions and were far too conservative down the stretch for my taste.
UW’s Defense Made Little to No Impact
The Wisconsin Badgers defense knew how formidable LSU’s aerial attack was heading into the ReliaQuest Bowl, even without Heisman-winning QB Jayden Daniels lining up under center, and the Tigers lived up to the hype.