For the early part of the ReliaQuest Bowl, Luke Fickell’s Wisconsin squad looked like the better team in a matchup against No. 13 LSU. Unfortunately, the Badgers could not hold onto a pair of 14-point leads before falling 35-31 to the Tigers.

To be fair, Heisman Trophy winner Jayden Daniels was inactive for LSU. Still, the Tigers had their star receivers active for the game, and it proved to be that group to give the Badgers fits.

In the end, Wisconsin showed some performances that can be built on heading into 2024 while also illustrating a need for improvements. Here are the key takeaways as Wisconsin ends Fickell’s first season at 7-6 overall:

Jackson Acker provides hope for the 2024 backfield

What will life post-Braelon Allen look like? It’s no easy task for a player who nearly reached 3,500 career rushing yards, but Jackson Acker provided some hope for the Badgers with his performance.

He averaged over 6 yards per carry and finished with 86 yards and a touchdown against LSU. He also had a 22-yard catch, setting the stage for a potential breakout season in 2024.

Even with Allen, Wisconsin opted to rotate two backs regularly in 2023, but Acker showed he can be a player in the mix for the lead role heading into the offseason. Combined with Chez Mellusi’s decision to return, the Badgers have a healthy outlook in the backfield entering the spring.

Wisconsin’s WR room looks ready to breakout

For much of the 2023 season, the Badger receiving corps left a lot to be desired. Against LSU, the group showed signs of what they could do moving forward.

Will Pauling continued to shine as Wisconsin’s leading receiver, and he led all players with 143 receiving yards in the game on 8 catches with 2 touchdowns. He’s the key piece from the group, but a couple of other players stepped up.

Bryson Green, a player with a 500-yard season at Oklahoma State, did not have the kind of first season he wanted to have in Madison. However, he produced his best game as a Badger with 7 catches for 105 yards and 1 touchdown.

Trech Kekahuna, a true freshman, also flashed with 4 catches for 64 yards in his first extensive action. The group will still need to develop and improve heading into 2024, but the receivers were a bright spot for the offense in the bowl game.

Luke Fickell’s defense needs an upgrade

Looking at Wisconsin’s raw numbers of 18.9 points per game allowed this season paints a decent picture of the Badger defense. After all, that mark finished 17th in the country.

However, a closer look at the schedule shows a need for improvement. After all, Wisconsin benefited from a B1G West schedule that included awful offenses from Iowa, Nebraska, Minnesota and others. Two of the crossover games even included matchups against Rutgers and Indiana, hardly teams known for lighting up the scoreboard.

In the bowl game, the need to improve the defense was greatly illustrated. Even without Heisman winner Jayden Daniels, the Tigers were able to rack up nearly 500 yards of offense with Garrett Nussmeier throwing for 3 touchdowns.

With the B1G expanding and the College Football Playoff moving to 12 teams, it’s important to improve across the board. That includes Wisconsin’s defensive talent taking a step up for next season and beyond.