What We Learned: Michigan 24 Wisconsin 10

ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Wisconsin (2-3, 0-2) suffered its third consecutive defeat and seventh in a row in Big Ten Conference play going back to last season, falling 24-10 at No. 20 Michigan (4-1, 2-0) on Saturday. Despite falling to 0-8 under head coach Luke Fickell against ranked opponents, the Badgers had plenty of positives at ‘The Big House.’

Wisconsin Run Defense Met the Challenge

Wisconsin came in with the top-ranked run defense (50.0 ypg) in the country. However, the Badgers hadn’t been challenged by a truly run-heavy offense with a physical offensive line yet. Michigan would provide that challenge. The Wolverines entered Saturday ranked eighth in FBS in rushing offense, putting up 254 yards per game on the ground.

All in all, it was a pretty good effort from UW up front. Michigan ran for 175 yards on 34 carries. The Wolverines padded their stats a bit on the final possession as well. As a result, the Badgers won the time of possession battle and held UM to a respectable 5-of-13 mark on third/fourth down.

Getting no help from the offense, the snaps added up in the second half. Wisconsin also couldn’t get that one or two big plays to really shift the momentum of the football game.

“I thought we did a good job of stopping the run, minus a couple plays,” said senior linebacker Darryl Peterson. “I think they had around 90 yards going into the fourth quarter. They had a 43-yard run. Other than that, I thought we did a good job. We’ve gotta continue to build off that.”

Hunter Simmons Started at Quarterback

Wisconsin made a surprising move on Saturday, going with senior Hunter Simmons at quarterback, his first career start for the Badgers. A Southern Illinois transfer who started just three games in 2024 after suffering a season-ending injury, Simmons went 18-of-29 passing for 179 yards and one interception — a pick that should have been a pass interference penalty on Michigan.

Not a ton of splash plays from Simmons, but he did get five chunk gains for UW through the air, including a 27-yard hookup with Vinny Anthony in the third quarter. However, Simmons really struggled on third down, going just 2-of-9. Sophomore Danny O’Neil also saw some action, but didn’t have a pass attempt on Saturday.

“Hunter, I think, showed some poise,” said Fickell. “We had a plan to play both quarterbacks. Both guys have their strong suits. With where we are and what we needed, thought Hunter gave us the best opportunity.”

Wisconsin Limited Sacks/Turnovers

For the first time this season against a power-four opponent, Wisconsin gave themselves a chance. There weren’t a ton of self-inflicted wounds, and the Badgers did what they needed to do in the trenches as well. Obviously, you would like to run the ball better after the opening touchdown drive, but if you look at what Michigan has done to opponents this season, this was a scary matchup for UW, whose offensive line has been a mess.

It was crucial that Wisconsin stayed out of third-and-long situations to negate the Michigan pass rush/opportunistic defense. The Wolverines entered Saturday generating a sack on nearly 10 percent of opponent dropbacks and two takeaways per game. The Badgers didn’t have a single third-and-long the entire day. In fact, six of their 14 attempts came with four yards to go or fewer. UW allowed just one sack and committed one aforementioned turnovers — after it became a two-score game.

The offense just doesn’t have a take-the-top-off-the-defense playmaker, besides Anthony, who caught nine passes for 97 yards. When you only run the ball for 75 yards and you’re down to you run out a third-string quarterback for his start of the season, I thought Saturday was encouraging for the offense from a controllable standpoint.

“Forcing turnovers as a defense, that’s the next step for us,” said Peterson. “If our offense isn’t getting going, we have to get them the ball with a turnover.”

Wisconsin Played to Keep the Game Close

If I have one big criticism from Saturday, it’s that Wisconsin played that game to try and keep things close, not to win. Based on his post-game press conference, Fickell appeared to feel the same way in regards to the playcalling.

“At some point in time, we’ve got to take our shots,” said Fickell.

Michigan was ganging up against the run, and not respecting the pass game of UW — as they should. Maybe this team just needs to be able to hang with a squad like Michigan to gain some confidence…I don’t know. But the reality is, you’re not going to beat the Wolverines in Ann Arbor without going for it. Jeff Grimes continues to struggle with the flow of the game and finding a balance between being conservative and getting flashy. After getting the Badgers in trouble with his risky playcalling two weeks ago against Maryland, he almost over-corrected on Saturday and kept running into that Michigan brick wall.

When Wisconsin went down 17-7, you knew that game was over. The Badgers aren’t built to play from behind. UW had seven drives where the game was tied or trailing by three. They didn’t put together one series that lasted longer than six plays and suffered four 3-and-outs and one point.

On the flip side, it felt like Mike Tressel was very hesitant to send pressure at Bryce Underwood. To be fair, Underwood wasn’t great on Saturday, going 19-of-28 passing. He did, though, connect on six passes of 20 yards or more. But like the offense, the Badgers didn’t even come close to getting a momentum-changing play that could have swung that game.

Can the Badgers Build Off This and Finally Get Over the Hump?

Here’s the good news. This team hasn’t quit on Fickell. The bad news? October could still be very rough.

Wisconsin arguably faces the toughest schedule in the country. That statement could not be truer in the month of October. The Badgers kicked things off at Michigan before hosting Iowa and then going back-to-back against No. 1 Ohio State and at No. 2 Oregon.

We’re way past moral victories. We were past them last season. But going from the weeks between Maryland and Michigan, there was progress…and it’s been a long time since we’ve seen that.

Wisconsin did a lot of the things they had to do to win that game in terms of taking care of the football, protecting the quarterback, controlling the Michigan run game, etc. They were just beaten by a better team at home, who didn’t make mistakes and give UW any help.

I can live with that.

Fickell could have come into his press conference with a glowing review of that game based on the way the last season and a half has gone. That was arguably the best game his team has played all season. He didn’t. He was fiery and is now challenging the team’s “competitive spirit.” We’ll see if they respond and finally get past this wall against Iowa next week, because UW has been down the road before, giving the likes of Ohio State, Oregon, and Penn State pretty much all they can handle, only to look flat and flame out later in the year.

“We’re simply not good enough to be satisfied right now,” said senior offensive tackle Riley Mahlman.