Photos
advertisement
Videos
Iowa defeats Wisconsin, remains undefeated
IOWA 20, WISCONSIN 10
Coming off the best 18-point loss in program history and into a homecoming game where they were actually favored against 9th ranked
Top that with two impressive early drives against another notoriously stout defense and you could almost feel the big win knocking on the door.
That feeling was no where to be found just three hours later though, as a disappointed Wisconsin team walked off the field with a 20-10 loss in their back pocket.
“We have a very disappointed football team,” head coach Brett Bielema said in his opening statement. “We prepared all week to put ourselves in a position to win a big football game against a quality opponent and we just weren’t able to finish the deal.”
So what happened in between the early part of this game and the end? Was it the brief injury to John Clay that slowed the running game? Was it when Curt Phillips got his turn behind the center and the offense never clicked again? Was it that the student section was actually a jinx today as the offense disappeared after their drunken faithful stumbled in?
Whatever it was, it turned an opportunity to grab the national spotlight by the horns into a loss that leaves many people where they were at the start of the season: questioning this football team.
And what’s not to question? This same team went out last season and lost five-of-six at one point. Who’s to say they don’t tumble down that rocky road again?
If you were in the locker room after the game, you wouldn’t have these major concerns.
“It was just a lack of focus in the second half,” Senior O’Brien Schofield said. “We stopped them pretty much the whole game, and they were just able to get some scores on a couple plays.
“We out-played them, we just didn’t win.”
So, after a much-needed hot start to quiet critics, where do these two losses leave this team?
“Where we’re at now, we’re a 5-2 football team, Bielema said. “I am very, very proud of the way these guys compete, work and play. But that’s nothing that is going to get us a W.
“Early indications are that these guys are going to battle back. I would be very surprised if this team didn’t respond the way I think it will.”
The truth is that this Badger team has outplayed the opposition almost every quarter this season. It’s the little things, the mental lapses that allow big plays that are killing this team.
It didn’t cost them against Michigan State, almost did against Minnesota, and finally burned them last week and today.
With a bye week and another home game on the schedule, this is the time for UW to square away these little things and return to the big stage.
