Wisconsin opened its season at the iconic Lambeau Field and mustered an effort it must put in the rearview mirror. It played a strong first half, but was throttled after the break, falling 41-13.
There was no shortage of similarities to previous seasons, but I’m not writing Wisconsin off as a bad team yet. Opening a season with more new starters than returners, against the No. 4 team in the country which returns most of its starters from 2025, is a recipe for failure, and that’s exactly what it was.
Simply put, the Badgers got dominated, regardless of how well they played in the first half. I don’t want to overreact to one game, against a national contender at that, so here’s grades for each phase of the ball from Sunday night without jumping to conclusions about any specific unit.
Offense: C-
Given what we’ve seen offensively the past two seasons, Sunday night felt like a victory, but a miniature one at that. It didn’t come without the back-breaking mistake that blew the game open for Notre Dame, but the run game had some positive moments, and Colton Joseph made some plays that showcased his potential in this offense.
At the end of the day, 13 points was never going to be anywhere near enough to win the game, and the lack of success after crossing midfield leaves plenty of room for concern. I think a middle-of-the-pack offense — paired with this defense — is good enough to at least return to a bowl game, and while I saw some encouraging signs, the offense clearly isn’t there yet.
I’m not going to put too much stock into this game. It’s quite possibly the best defense Wisconsin will face all season, and there were flashes of explosiveness. Still, this performance was below average, especially with the pick-six, but it also feels reasonable to say it’s in a much better spot than a year ago.
With focus pivoting to Western Illinois, I’d like to see the Badgers respond with a run-heavy, dominant effort, while giving Joseph some opportunities to take shots to build some confidence. It’s always difficult to not overreact to one game, so I’m going to refrain from diving too deep here.
Defense: B
Through one game, it’s the same story, but a different team. The Wisconsin defense came out of the gates on fire, playing a great first half. If not for a botched kick return, it kept Notre Dame out of the end zone for the entire first half, and forced field goals when it did get to the redzone.
Sebastian Cheeks led the charge in the first half, as Wisconsin got to Carr and stuffed the run. It was an indicator of what this defense can be, but now it has to be done on a consistent basis.
I don’t think this came as a surprise to many, but it truly was an outstanding half of football from Mike Tressel’s unit. In recent seasons, I’ve given the defense the benefit of the doubt when things have gone south in the second half, as it’s nearly impossible to keep an elite offense in check when your offense is giving you next to nothing.
There’s once again some truth to that statement, but at this point in the Fickell era, it’s time to be done with that excuse. Sure, the offense will need to be better to give this defense some breathers, but in the second half, it was physically dominated and picked apart by CJ Carr.
I remain optimistic about this defensive unit, and the first half is exactly why. My grade for Tressel’s crew reflects a performance that was as good as it could be for a half, but totally ran out of steam.
Special Teams: B-
In recent years, the special teams group has been the highlight unit for Wisconsin. On Sunday night, it delivered two huge plays, but also a miscue that shifted the momentum of the game entirely.
On Notre Dame’s first drive of the game, Mike Tressel’s defense got a stop without much trouble, leading to Division III transfer Liam Danitz getting his hand on a punt. The block set up the Wisconsin offense for an early field goal, which helped it jump out to a 3-0 lead.
Not long after, disaster struck as Harrison Bortolotti mishandled a kickoff. While there’s a strong argument that Notre Dame was the beneficiary of a questionable call, it’s an error that simply can not happen if you want to compete with the nation’s best.
Ultimately, one miscue didn’t decide this game, but it certainly feels like it could have made the final score seem less convincing.
On another positive note, Sean West delivered what was easily the best punt I have ever seen. Kicking from his own 29-yard line, he delivered a boot that traveled to about the 5-yard line in the air, before taking a perfect bounce, travelling essentially horizontally from the left hash until it went out of bounds inside the one.
He followed it up with another perfect kick that would have been downed around the one had Tyrell Henry not slipped. 2025 closed in disastrous fashion for West with a poor performance at Minnesota, but he was certainly a standout tonight.
Overall grade: C-
Well, here we are again. Wisconsin was dominated under the lights at Lambeau Field. Yes there was a really strong half of football, but it’s year four for Fickell. Time is up for moral victories, and while there were some tonight, this was overall a poor showing.
Do I feel better about this team than last season? Absolutely. I saw enough from the offense to know it can be miles ahead of what we’ve grown accustomed to in recent seasons. But, I also saw a lot of the same issues and another lopsided final score, so the overall grade is very much negative.
At this point, it’s hard to come up with anything new to say. We’ve seen this kind of game play out too many times under Fickell. Notre Dame is a title contender and Wisconsin, even with significant growth, is not that.
So instead of calling for Fickell’s job or claiming this team is going to win eight games, I’m simply going to say I trust this team will be better than last season, but there’s not much that can change besides the head coach if it can’t prove that.
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