They say Evanston, Illinois creates a trap game unlike any other venue in college football.
The Wisconsin Badgers know that more than anybody, and found out why yet again today as they fell to the Northwestern Wildcats 17-7.
What dictated the outcome can be described clearly: the Badgers could not get out of their own way all day and played right into the hands of a tough Northwestern team.
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Heading into the contest, keys to a Badger victory included taking care of the football and establishing offensive ‘changeups’ to continue to make things easy for Mertz and the between-the-tackles rushing attack.
They did neither.
The keys also included the defense getting Northwestern off the field on third down and forcing Peyton Ramsey to win the game with his arm. The defense did that and more and had a remarkable showing.
But the offense, especially quarterback Graham Mertz, played right into Northwestern’s hands by turning the ball over seven times and shooting themselves in the foot with penalties and bad drops.
And a lot of that falls on the shoulders of the quarterback, a guy who turned the ball over four times himself, missed countless throws and played an overall abysmal game of football. It’s fair to say that if you take away his sloppy play and turnovers Wisconsin would’ve won this football game.
Mertz’s final stat line: 22/40 passing, 230 yards, 1 touchdown, 3 interceptions, 1 fumble. His potential is still high and his future at Wisconsin is still bright, but he was a large reason the Badgers only scored 7 points and lost the game.
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Give credit to Wildcat Head Coach Pat Fitzgerald and the Northwestern defense as they did a lot to keep the Badgers out of rhythm all night, and also take note of the fact that top wide receivers Kendric Pryor and Danny Davis were out for the Badger offense.
But the story isn’t Northwestern winning the game. It is Graham Mertz, the rest of the Wisconsin offense and the team as a whole losing it by being unable to get out of their own way all day. It sounds obvious to say, but when you have 7 more penalties, 64 more penalty yards and five more turnovers than your opponent it’s hard to win a football game.
Wisconsin now falls to 2-1 on the season while Northwestern improves to 5-0 and takes a stranglehold of the Big Ten West.
Stay tuned to BadgersWire as we recap the contest and look ahead to the remaining games on the Badgers’ schedule.