There have been plenty of times during the Luke Fickell era when the Wisconsin football team has been asked to respond to adversity.
This time, it actually did.
Wisconsin went into halftime trailing No. 13 Penn State 17-7 at Beaver Stadium after turning the ball over twice, including a pick-six, and looked headed toward another familiar ending against a ranked opponent.
Instead, the Badgers flipped the game.
Wisconsin outscored Penn State 17-3 after halftime, scored 14 unanswered points in the fourth quarter, and held the Nittany Lions scoreless over the final 18-plus minutes to pull off a 24-20 upset.
Considering everything surrounding Fickell and this program entering the season, it’s difficult to overstate how badly Wisconsin needed a win like this.
Game recap
Wisconsin’s defense gave the Badgers every opportunity to settle in early.
Penn State managed only a field goal in the first quarter, but Wisconsin’s offense couldn’t stay out of its own way. Colton Joseph threw two first-half interceptions, including a pick-six that helped the Nittany Lions build a 17-0 lead.
Then Wisconsin finally showed some life.
Joseph led the Badgers on a touchdown drive before halftime, finishing it himself on the ground to cut the deficit to 17-7.
Wisconsin added a Gavin Lahm field goal in the third quarter, but Penn State answered with one of its own to take a 20-10 lead into the fourth.
That’s when the game changed.
Wisconsin scored two touchdowns in the final quarter, took a 24-20 lead, and put the game back in the hands of a defense that had carried the Badgers for most of the game.
It finished the job.
Penn State got the football one final time with 1:13 remaining, but Wisconsin forced four straight incompletions to close out its biggest win of the season.
What stood out
• Wisconsin finally finished a game against a ranked opponent
This is the part that matters most to me.
We’ve seen Wisconsin play stretches of good football against better teams under Fickell. We’ve seen them hang around. We’ve seen flashes that make you wonder whether they’re getting closer.
What we haven’t seen nearly enough is Wisconsin actually finishing one of these games. Saturday was different.
Wisconsin trailed by 17 points, committed three turnovers, and went into the fourth quarter down 20-10 on the road against the No. 13 team in the country. And then the Badgers took the game from Penn State.
That’s meaningful.
Wisconsin outgained Penn State 355-248 and averaged 5.4 yards per play compared to 3.8 for the Nittany Lions. The Badgers also held Penn State to 119 rushing yards on 36 attempts (3.3 yards per carry).
I’ve been skeptical of the progress Wisconsin has supposedly made under Fickell because too much of it has required projection. This didn’t. They went into Beaver Stadium and found a way to win.
• Colton Joseph was messy, but he kept swinging
There’s no way to make Joseph’s final stat line look clean.
He completed 18-of-38 passes for 235 yards, two touchdowns, and three interceptions. One of those interceptions became a Penn State touchdown, and Wisconsin’s three turnovers gave the Nittany Lions 14 points.
Against a ranked team on the road, that’s usually fatal. Somehow in this matchup, it wasn’t, and to his credit, Joseph kept playing.
The 6-foot-2 signal caller added 39 yards and a touchdown on the ground and eventually made enough plays for Wisconsin to come all the way back. The passing game also produced 235 yards against a Penn State defense that had been difficult to throw against entering Saturday.
It wasn’t the efficient performance Wisconsin got from Joseph against Eastern Michigan. This was something different. He made mistakes that could have buried his team and then helped dig it back out.
Fickell acknowledged afterward that this might simply be part of the experience with Joseph.
“Unfortunately, it might be a little bit of a roller coaster ride,” Fickell said of Joseph. “Here’s a guy that has incredible ability, and he’s growing and learning as well. He thanked me after the game for sticking with him and believing in him, and he thanked the team for sticking with him and believing in him.
“People see some mistakes. We all do. But I think they see the genuine care, love, and grind to get better, and the understanding that we all have a job to do and every one of us has to get better. His is a little bit more obvious because he’s the quarterback, and that’s the nature of the beast. But we believe in him.”
• Jacob Harris gave Wisconsin the explosive element it needed
The more Wisconsin gets Harris involved, the more I wonder what the ceiling is for him in this offense.
Harris caught five passes on six targets for 105 yards (64 yards after contact) and a touchdown, including a 72-yard reception that completely changed the complexion of Wisconsin’s passing game.
For an offense that entered Week 4 still searching for dependable answers beyond Joseph creating something himself, Harris gave them one.
Darrion Dupree deserves credit here, too.
Dupree finished with 52 rushing yards on eight carries and added four receptions for 44 yards, giving him 96 yards from scrimmage. Wisconsin’s traditional running game still isn’t where it needs to be — not even close — but Dupree continues to make a strong case for more touches.
• Mike Tressel’s defense won Wisconsin this football game
The offense eventually made the plays necessary to win.
The defense made sure it had enough time to do it.
Penn State finished with just 248 yards, averaged 3.8 yards per play, and managed only 129 yards through the air. Rocco Becht completed 12-of-29 passes and threw an interception.
The run defense deserves plenty of credit, too. Wisconsin consistently held up at the line of scrimmage and never let the Nittany Lions establish the kind of running game that could have put this thing away while the Badgers’ offense struggled.
More importantly, Wisconsin never allowed the game to get away from it after the turnovers.
Mason Posa was everywhere, finishing with 12 tackles (8 solo) and a tackle for loss. Cooper Catalano added nine tackles and a pass breakup that almost went for six, while Hammond Russell IV had 1.5 sacks and 1.5 tackles for loss. Javan Robinson broke up three critical passes. Even Charles Perkins got involved, coming away with an interception off Becht.
Penn State went 7-of-18 on third down and was held scoreless in the fourth quarter. That’s what Wisconsin needed its defense to be this season.
On Saturday, it was.
Game Balls
TE Jacob Harris: Five receptions, 105 yards and a touchdown, including a 72-yard explosive that gave Wisconsin something Penn State couldn’t account for. That final touchdown catch helped make up for two penalties from Harris on that same drive. The Bowling Green transfer looks good.
LB Mason Posa: Posa continues to look like one of the foundational pieces of this defense. He finished with a game-high 12 tackles, eight solo, and added a tackle for loss.
Stats of the game
107: Wisconsin outgained Penn State by 107 yards, finishing with a 355-248 advantage.
3.8: Penn State averaged just 3.8 yards per play against Wisconsin’s defense.
17-3: Wisconsin outscored Penn State 17-3 after halftime, after entering the break down 17-7.
129: The Badgers held Rocco Becht and Penn State to only 129 passing yards.
3: Wisconsin turned the football over three times and still found a way to win. That’s usually a losing formula, which makes what happened in the second half even more impressive.
What’s next
Wisconsin (3-1) returns to Camp Randall Stadium next Saturday to host Michigan State.
For once, there’s no need to manufacture a bigger meaning from what Wisconsin just did. The Badgers went into Beaver Stadium, fell behind by 17 points, survived three turnovers, and beat the No. 13 team in the country.
That’s progress you can actually put on film. It’s Fickell’s signature win at Wisconsin, and one this program and its fanbase desperately needed.
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