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Wisconsin left a ton of points on the field during its season-opening loss to Penn State. Wisconsin’s offense did enough to put itself into position to score multiple times before collapsing at crucial points near the goal line in Saturday’s 16-10 loss at Camp Randall Stadium.
The Badgers had the ball with a first down on Penn State’s 2-yard line, 12-yard-line and 1-yard line. In those 3 possessions, they came up with zero points, and that’s the reason Wisconsin will enter next week’s game against Eastern Michigan with an 0-1 record.
The Badgers were in position to grab the lead early in the second quarter on a drive that lasted 15 plays. With a 1st-and-goal from the 2-yard line, a false start backed them up and a few plays later, Collin Larsh’s 25-yard field goal attempt was blocked.
In Wisconsin’s next possession, the Badgers marched down the field and found themselves inside the 10-yard line looking for the first score of the game when a botched handoff between Graham Mertz and Chez Mellusi handed the ball right back to Penn State.
Trailing by 6 points late in the fourth quarter, Danny Davis made an incredible catch to get Wisconsin to the 1-yard line. That was immediately followed by a Mertz fumble as the ball slipped out of his hands, but the Badgers recovered, losing 6 yards. A few plays later, he threw an interception.
Not scoring a single point in any of those drives is crushing in a huge game to start the season, and Paul Chryst has to be incredibly frustrated that so many of those errors were unforced. A pre-snap penalty, multiple botched handoffs and a pass thrown directly to a Penn State defender is inexcusable for a program that entered Saturday’s game as the favorites to win the B1G West.
While those 3 possessions are easy to single out, Wisconsin had a drive that stalled at the 25-yard line that resulted in a 43-yard field goal from Collin Larsh. In Wisconsin’s final possession, Mertz quickly led the offense back to the 25-yard line but threw another interception in a desperation pass on the game’s final play.
The Badgers were inside the 25-yard line 5 times and scored a combined 3 points in those drives in a 6-point loss. They lost the turnover battle 0-3, wasting a 42:51-17:09 advantage in time of possession and a 29-11 advantage in first downs. Ouch.
One of the biggest mysteries surrounding the Wisconsin football team heading into Saturday’s game was what to take away from Mertz’s struggles in 2020. The compilation of reasons were valid as he was not set up for success in his first year as a starting quarterback, but there is no more room for excuses at this point. He is going to be overly praised or overly criticized every week, but he struggled in the most critical moments in Saturday’s opener. Whenever the Badgers got in close, Mertz and the offense couldn’t find a way to put points on the board.
Penn State handed Wisconsin every chance to win this game, especially with a poor performance from the Nittany Lions’ kicking game. Jordan Stout missed a 24-yard field goal and then hit the ball off the upright on a PAT try to keep the score at 16-10 in the fourth quarter.
If Wisconsin would’ve scored a touchdown with the extra point on the next possession — when it had a 1st-and-goal from the 1-yard line — the previous miscues would’ve been forgiven. Instead, the Badgers let the opportunity slip away in frustrating fashion. The game was available for the Badgers to take, but the brutal red zone offense was the difference.
This is an area that will be need be fixed very soon, as Wisconsin still has a ton of quality opponents on its schedule. Heading into Saturday’s game, the Badgers were favored to win every game this season, but they should be in many close battles down the stretch of the regular season. Even if Wisconsin is expected to win plenty of its remaining games, it’s tough to find many guaranteed wins on a schedule that includes tough opponents like Notre Dame, Michigan, Iowa and Minnesota.
Points are going to be at a premium this season, and going scoreless in situations the Badgers found themselves in on Saturday could determine whether Wisconsin returns to Indianapolis for a shot at the B1G title this year.
Erik Buchinger brings his vast experience covering Wisconsin and B1G football to Saturday Tradition. Follow him on Twitter @DeceptiveSpeed.