The Wisconsin football team bounced back from its disappointing loss at UCLA with a 24-7 win over No. 16 USC at Camp Randall Stadium, improving to 5-2 overall and 3-1 in Big Ten play.
And while the Badgers managed just 200 yards of offense, their defense delivered one of its most impressive performances of the Luke Fickell era.
Wisconsin held USC to minus-17 rushing yards, recorded five sacks, forced two interceptions, and prevented the Trojans from scoring over the final three quarters.
"Gritty ain't pretty but that's who we are," Fickell said during his postgame interview on the field.
That pretty much summed up the performance.
The Pro Football Focus grades and snap counts offer a little more context into how Wisconsin accomplished that, particularly on defense, where several players turned in some of their best performances of the season.
Offensively, the picture is more complicated. The Badgers leaned on their running backs and sustained drives, but the passing game remains limited, and some concerning individual performances still stand out up front.
Here’s what stood out at every position from Wisconsin’s Week 8 snap counts.
Quarterback
Colton Joseph: 60
Joseph’s performance against USC was a pretty good example of how Wisconsin can win with him without asking him to do everything.
He completed 12-of-14 passes for just 58 yards and a touchdown, earning a 58.7 overall offensive grade and a 64.0 passing grade from PFF. Joseph also finished with 32 rushing yards on 15 carries.
Those numbers aren’t particularly impressive, but Joseph avoided the costly mistakes that have occasionally undermined this offense.
His biggest contribution through the air came on a beautifully designed 16-yard touchdown screen to Chris Brooks Jr. on fourth-and-2, extending Wisconsin’s lead to 17-7 in the third quarter.
The difference was that Wisconsin didn’t need Joseph to manufacture nearly every positive play with his legs. That’s encouraging from a sustainability standpoint, even if the passing game still has a considerable amount of work to do.
