What We Learned: Alabama 38 Wisconsin 14

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — Falling to 0-7 under head coach Luke Fickell against ranked teams, Wisconsin (2-1) couldn’t hang with No. 19 Alabama (2-1) in Saturday’s non-conference road test. The Badgers got off to a decent start, but costly mistakes early helped the Crimson Tide blow the game open and never look back. Here’s what we learned following Saturday’s loss…

Wisconsin Didn’t Give Themselves Much of a Chance

It continues to be a problem during the Luke Fickell era — Self-inflicted wounds in big games. Wisconsin simply isn’t a good enough football team to overcome all the times they’ve shot themselves in the foot.

Yes, the Badgers were the victim of some questionable calls early while the game was still in the balance, one of which was a roughing the passer penalty by Mason Reiger that negated a potential third-down opportunity and directly led to an Alabama touchdown. However, a really bad interception by Danny O’Neil in Tide and a hands to the face penalty from Joe Brunner, both in Crimson Tide territory, were both potentially 14-point swings as UA cashed in on both miscues.

Alabama didn’t need to put a drive together until the final series of the second half, but Wisconsin still went into the locker room down 21-0. Eliminate two of those three critical mistakes, at worst, it might be a one possession game at the break or better.

“You’re not going to go on the road and beat a team like this making those kinds of mistakes,” said Fickell.

The Wisconsin Run Game Continues to Be Non-Existent

Wisconsin likely couldn’t win unless they had a better effort offensively in the trenches. Through two games, the Badgers’ top three tailbacks had combined for 213 yards on 47 carries versus two inferior opponents, who also registered a total of 13.5 tackles for loss against UW.

As expected, Wisconsin didn’t do much on the ground against Alabama. The Badgers finished with 92 rushing yards on 32 carries. Darrion Dupree and Dilin Jones combined for 51 yards on 12 carries. A lot of the damage came in the fourth quarter when the game was out of hands. UW got 42 of its yards against the Bama reserves.

Although the blocking was once again supbar, Jones and Dupree should have taken a lot away from Saturday as well, needing to get stronger/more physical as they went down too easily and took some shots.

“It’s frustrating,” said senior offensive tackle Riley Mahlman. “We just have to hold our blocks longer and make sure we’re getting movment off the line scrimmage…We just can’t have this all season (or) it’s going to be a disaster of a season.”

Jake Renfro Went Down…Again

You admire his courage, but Jake Renfro continues to hang on for dear life injury-wise. A game-time decision after missing the Middle Tennessee State game, Renfro gutted it out against Alabama, only to go down early in the second quarter after Wisconsin allowed a sack. His replacement, senior Kerry Kodanko surrendered a sack on the next play. Offensive line coach A.J. Blazek wasn’t going to play any more games, inserting redshirt freshman Ryan Cory on the next drive.

Renfro has had a rough injury history. He missed the entire 2022 campaign with Cincinnati and all but one game of the 2023 season. Aside from Billy Edwards, Renfro might be the most irreplaceable player on the roster given what the Badgers have behind him. Renfro would eventually return in the second half, but the Badger offensive line was in rough shape without him. Alabama’s defense had 4.0 sacks on the day. Three came in Renfro’s absence.

“He did not practice very much,” said Fickell. “There’s a lot of shuffling parts. We knew that was going to be the case. We knew starting three redshirt freshmen on the offensive line, things were going to be, probably a little tougher at times.”

Danny O’Neil Couldn’t Make the Plays Necessary

I wasn’t going to push my chips in the Danny O’Neil pot after two games. One, I had seen too much in fall camp. Two, I thought his stats against Miami (OH) and Middle Tennessee State were largely a product of offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes. I wanted to see what O’Neil did against a real defense.

You could tell by the game plan where Wisconsin’s head was at, because up until things got out of hand, they really didn’t let O’Neil loose as a pocket passer. O’Neil finished 11-of-17 passing for 117 yards and a late touchdown over the top to senior wide receiver Jayden Ballard. O’Neil had two interceptions, both of which came in Alabama territory, on balls you just cannot throw. He also underthrew two deep balls to senior wide receiver Vinny Anthony, who had a 95-yard kickoff return for a touchdown on Saturday.

“One of the keys was going to be coming out hot and we dug ourselves a hole in the first half,” O’Neil said. “It does start with me, being able to lead the guys better.”

Alabama Figured Out Wisconsin’s Defense

Wisconsin had some good moments in the opening quarter. As stated, the offense and a crucial penalty didn’t do them any favors, but the Badgers forced Alabama into some third downs, collected an early sack, and were completely shutting down the run game.

The good news? The Crimson Tide virtually abandoned running between the tackles. UW only finished with 72 rushing yards on 22 carries. The bad news? They attacked a Wisconsin secondary that couldn’t cover on the back end.

Alabama quarterback Ty Simpson went 24-of-29 passing for 382 yards and four touchdowns. After Christian Alliegro got home with a sack, Simpson almost never got touched the rest of the way. At one point, Simpson completed 13 consecutive passes and then had a string of nine more in a row. The Crimson Tide wide receivers did the Badgers some favors too which three drops, including one in the end zone.

“That’s a little more of a surprise to me,” Fickell said of his defense. “I thought the way we played in the back end of our defense, I thought that was going to give us a better opportunity to put some pressure on them. We weren’t able to do that.”

Fickell Wants to Stay Positive, But Wisconsin Continues to Flail

In his opening remarks, Fickell said he wasn’t going to “rant” about Saturday’s loss. He wants Wisconsin to keep their heads held high, knowing the program crumbled down the stretch of the 2024 season when things got challenging.

We’ll see if it has any effect when the next big game rolls around, but this is now a Wisconsin program that’s come up well short in yet another test. The Badgers are still without a win over a ranked opponent since 2021. Not that anyone expected UW to come out on top in a hostile environment versus a blueblood program like Alabama, but expectations are higher than getting out-gained 454-209 and allowing 28 unanswered points, especially in year three of a rebuild — the season things are generally supposed to turn in your favor.

“It’s tough to swallow, but I promised these guys from the get-go, when we started this thing, there’s one thing I’m going to be committed to, it’s going to be committed to be positive,” Fickell said. “This was a measuring stick. We’re not measuring up to where we want to be, where we expect to be…The season starts now.”

The best piece of advice I can give? No more talking. All off-season, Wisconsin toted how they weren’t getting any love, everyone was writing them off, and they were going to silence the doubters against this treacherous schedule. There’s a reason the outside world and a large chunk of the fan base doesn’t believe and they continue to get proven right. No more words or hyping this program in the media. Put your heads down, grind in silence, and figure this out. Not since 2019 has this program won a game of real value. Exuding fake confidence doesn’t and hasn’t accomplished anything. Back it up between the lines.