3 quick takeaways from Badgers comeback win over Penn State: Wisconsin’s defense is elite

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After trailing by 17 points, the Wisconsin Badgers pulled off a fourth-quarter comeback on the road against the No. 13 Penn State Nittany Lions on Saturday to improve to 3-1 on the season. It was the team’s biggest win under Luke Fickell, and one that put the Badgers back on the map after years of struggles in big games.

Wisconsin’s offense found a way to put together multiple late-game touchdown drives after looking inept for most of the evening. And the defense was phenomenal, forcing seven punts while holding Penn State to just three second-half points.

It wasn’t a clean win for the Badgers by any means. But it was a win, and that’s all that matters. So, here are three quick takeaways from Saturday’s surprising finish.

Colton Joseph finds a way

Colton Joseph did not look good on Saturday. He was on the way to one of the worst games of his career, standing at 94 yards and three interceptions on 11 of 28 passes at one point in the fourth quarter.

The Badgers quarterback had shown some of the inconsistent play he had over the first few weeks, getting startled by pressure and making a number of inaccurate throws, despite facing solid protection overall from his offensive line.

Each of Joseph’s interceptions came at rough points. His first one came after the Badgers had forced two punts on Penn State’s first three drives, and it was a pick-six that gave the Nittany Lions their first 10 points. It was a poor decision and a poor throw, and Penn State capitalized for a defensive touchdown.

Then, Joseph threw an interception three plays later on the ensuing drive, taking away even more confidence from the offense as the Badgers had compiled just 33 yards to that point. That set up Penn State’s lone offensive touchdown in the game, as the Nittany Lions started at the Wisconsin 11-yard line and 17-0 early in the second quarter.

Joseph started the game completing 2 of 9 passes as the offense had just one quality drive in the first half, which led to a touchdown. Wisconsin had several opportunities in this game created by their defense, and they started with the ball in the second half, but couldn’t do anything with it. Joseph didn’t play much better in the third quarter, completing 5 of 10 passes, with only one of those being over five yards.

Then, in the fourth, Joseph threw an ugly third interception with eight minutes left that really looked like the nail in the coffin. But the Badgers got the ball back immediately thanks to a quick defensive stand, and that’s where the flip switched for Wisconsin’s transfer quarterback.

Thanks to a great game plan designed for quick throws for him, Joseph was dialed in on the final two offensive drives for the Badgers. After starting 11 of 28 for 94 yards and three interceptions, the Badgers quarterback completed 7 of his final 10 passes for 141 yards and two touchdowns over the final seven minutes of the game.

There were some really nice throws in that mix. Joseph fired a slant to Shamar Rigby to get the Badgers in the red zone on the first touchdown drive, and had a really nice throw on 3rd & 13 to Eugene Hilton for an 11-yard touchdown, which was his best throw of the day.

Then, on the team’s final drive, Jeff Grimes set up a screen for Darrion Dupree that went for 25 and went after the same corner Wisconsin beat for its previous touchdown with a tight end leak, setting up Jacob Harris’s 72-yard touchdown.

Joseph did not have a good game. He would certainly like a lot of plays back. But he was resilient at the end and made some very timely throws that got the Badgers an improbable win.

This defense is elite

Heading into the game, I thought the defense was going to impress in another test, while the offense would struggle, which would be the reason Penn State eventually pulled away for a double-digit win.

Well, the premise of that was correct, and the defense looked even better than expected. Wisconsin’s defense looked elite on Saturday. There’s no way around it. They made clutch plays. They got pressure on the quarterback. They forced a turnover. They played extremely disciplined. And they had a phenomenal game plan against an experienced quarterback.

Penn State didn’t even muster 250 yards of total offense, as Rocco Becht completed 12 of 29 passes for 129 yards and an interception. On the ground, the Badgers held them to under 4.0 yards per carry (not including sacks), and got off the field on third down.

Wisconsin’s defense forced seven punts. They won on early downs, forcing an average third-down distance of nearly seven yards in the second half. They got a timely interception that led to three points. And they consistently came up in the clutch when placed in bad situations.

They forced Penn State to a field goal on a drive starting at the Wisconsin 40-yard line. Late in the game, after Colton Joseph’s third interception that gave the Nittany Lions the ball at their own 45-yard line, they forced a three-and-out to get the offense the ball back.

There were six three-and-outs the defense forced on Saturday. Overall, whatever you look at, Wisconsin’s defense did their part in a big way. Mason Posa and Cooper Catalano combined for 21 tackles. Hammond Russell and Sebastian Cheeks got sacks. Javan Robinson broke up three passes in the clutch, while Wisconsin had seven PBUs in total.

The Badgers also showed they could win up front against a good Penn State team. They had 19 pressures, with Sebastian Cheeks continuing his excellent start to the season with five. Nicolas Clayton and DeNigel Cooper each had three, despite being rotational players. Then, let’s look at the stops.

Mason Posa had 11 stops. That’s incredible. Cooper Catalano had five himself, and the team had 30 total stops, which are “tackles that constitute a “failure” for the offense” according to PFF.

Coming into the season, there were two questions: could Wisconsin’s defensive line hold up against the run and create pressure, and could the secondary hold up against tough competition? Both of those answers were yes on Sunday.

The ceiling of the Badgers team

Wisconsin had three turnovers, two of which led to 14 points for Penn State. Its quarterback struggled big time. They had seven penalties. And they faced a top-15 team on the road.

Everything was going against them in this game. They lost all the key battles. And they won. Coming into this season, we expected the defense to lead this team, and the offense to be inconsistent. But in a game where Wisconsin didn’t put it all together, they beat a top-15 team. Now, what happens when they play clean, as they did in Week 3?

Wisconsin is going to get serious AP consideration in the polls this week, and this defense could be a top-10 unit in the country. That’s why I said it would be disappointing for this team not to reach at least eight wins this season.

Well, we saw some of that ceiling materialize on Saturday. This team is clearly not devoid of talent. They’ve got some very quality running backs, some pass-catchers who have shown they can make plays, and an offensive line that has been quite strong in pass protection, and is getting there in the run game. Defensively, this group is loaded with talent and depth at every position. They’ve got two stars at linebacker, a large number of rotational pieces on the defensive line, and a group of quality defensive backs who have been playing much more aggressive the last few weeks.

Talent isn’t an issue with this team. The question was how they’d respond to adversity after the results in close games like these over the past few years. We saw the response on Saturday.

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