At one point, the Wisconsin Badgers held a 27-10 lead, but Nebraska went twenty unanswered to snatch a 30-27 win in front of the fifth largest crowd at Memorial Stadium ever.
Taylor Martinez led the charge for the Huskers (4-1) with 116 yards on the ground and three total touchdowns.
The Badgers (3-2) lose their second road game of the season and open up an entirely new Pandora’s Box in regards to the 2012 season.
What It Means: Wisconsin played only one half of solid football. In the first half, the Badgers took full advantage of Nebraska’s unforced errors and appeared to be on the right track offensively. The offensive line was getting push and Montee Ball was running harder than he has all year. It wouldn’t last long though because once Nebraska eliminated the mistakes, their offense couldn’t be stopped. Rex Burkhead and Ameer Abdullah combined with Martinez for 258 rushing yards against a Badgers team who wasn’t giving up even half of that coming into the game.
With the way Wisconsin played in the second half, head coach Bret Bielema has a lot of questions to answer regarding in-game adjustments and decisions he’s made this season. Freshman kicker Jack Russell, who replaced Kyle French, missed an extra point and field goal in the first half. And Danny O’Brien made his return in the final drive of the game after Joel Stave was sidelined from being hit on a couple of different occasions.
No matter how you look at this game, it should have been a game the Badgers could win and they did not. Not entirely the same situation, but very similar to the two Rose Bowl losses the last two years.
Player of the Game: WR Jared Abbrederis (seven catches for 142 yards and one touchdown)
Over the last two weeks, Abbrederis has 13 catches for 289 yards and two touchdowns. He was without a doubt the best Badger on the field and arguably the best weapon the team has. It will be interesting to see what happens to Abby’s production once opposing defenses try to take him out of the game-plan. Particularly Ohio State and Michigan State who have the cover guys to do so.
Highlight of the Game: It may be hard to remember for most Badgers fans, but you have to go all the way back to the first quarter when Stave executed a beautiful play-action fake which led to a 54 yard catch by Abbrederis. The catch would ultimately lead to Ball’s first of three touchdowns on the night. They would try to go back to the play-action, but it had treacherous results once the Nebraska defense came alive.
Stat of the Game (1.4): The amount of yards the Badgers averaged on their 41 rushing plays. Ball dominated the amount of carries in this one with 32 to Melvin Gordon/James White’s three. Ball got it done with three scores, but his 2.8 yards per carry tells the whole story. No matter how much the team wants to play “Wisconsin Football,” I’m not so sure it’s going to happen.
What’s Next: The Badgers return home to play Illinois (2-3) in a game they absolutely have to win if they still have reservations for Indianapolis. The Fighting Illini were beat down by Penn State and are quite possibly the worst team in the conference. If Wisconsin doesn’t get it done against Illinois, it could be time to give up on their chances for a Big Ten Championship.
What did you think of the Badgers breakdown in the second half? Will this team still play in the Big Ten Championship or is it at question? Let me know by commenting below!
Nick Grays is a senior writer at the Sports Bank where he covers the Wisconsin Badgers and Green Bay Packers. He also enjoys to share Fantasy Advice and pretend to be a Golf expert from time-to-time. Follow him on Twitter by clicking here or visit his blog Nick Knows Best. If social media is not your thing, shoot him an email at grays@uwalumni.com.
Pictures courtesy of Wisconsin Badgers official Facebook page.