Wisconsin was so close to starting the season off on the right foot. They had Big Noon Kickoff come into town for week 1, fans were back, a Top-25 opponent coming into Madtown, and their famous Jump Around it seemed the stars would align for the Badgers.

The Badgers would fall just short to the No.19 Penn State Nittany Lions 16-10 in a defensive battle. Wisconsin’s QB Graham Mertz would throw 2 interceptions in the final 3 minutes; that would be the difference in the game.

After the game, Mertz was unhappy with the result and believed he and his team could play better.

“Hungry,'” Mertz said. According to Madison.com, “I know I can play a lot better football. I know we’re a lot better team than that.”

Mertz also talked about what he could do better going forward.

“Obviously, not proud of how it ended,” Mertz said. “There are definitely a lot of things on my plate that I have to clean up, and I will. I’m going to do everything and anything I can to make sure I’m ready to go and this team’s ready to go. There’s a lot of stuff I need to clean up, but I’ll be ready.”

You can read the rest of the story on Wisconsin’s loss here:

Wisconsin plays Eastern Michigan next weekend to open up their non-conference slate.