PASADENA, Calif. — It was an ugly, penalty-ridden defensive battle at the Rose Bowl.
Nonetheless, the Badgers have no one to blame but themselves. They repeatedly had chances to get off the field on big third downs. They repeatedly went conservative on offense. They repeatedly gave up chunk plays against a backup quarterback and an offense with several missing starters in the trenches.
Wisconsin surrendered scoring drives of 95, 91 and 84 yards. It was called for 10 penalties for 102 yards. It surrendered 13 third down conversions. Despite mostly shutting down the Bruins' vaunted ground game, the Badgers simply didn't play well enough to pull off the upset over No. 12 UCLA.
Stat of the game: UCLA's backup quarterback Ty Dieffenbach tossed for 264 yards on 67% completion. Dieffenbach repeatedly bailed UCLA out with big-time throw after big-time throw. He carved up Wisconsin's zone coverage that remains maddeningly ineffective despite the Badgers' obviously improved man coverage capabilities.
Defining play of the game: Dieffenbach's 34-yard completion up the seam to wideout Semaj Morgan on 3rd and 6. He was then hit by Matt Jung, who was called for targeting. It was a busted coverage, a third down conversion and an extremely avoidable penalty all wrapped into one play. If that doesn't encapsulate what just unfolded at the Rose Bowl, I'm not sure what does.
What it means: It's time to worry about Wisconsin's pass defense once again. That, and the offense remains far too inconsistent, and the gunslinger completed under 40% of his passes. UCLA has a good defense, but Colton Joseph and the offense couldn't sustain any sort of momentum. He had just six completions all game. Wisconsin had no semblance of rhythm in its arial attack.
Don't overlook: The Badgers shut down UCLA's ground game. They held the Bruins to 44 yards through three quarters, and they particularly limited star halfback Wayne Knight, who ran for just 23 yards on 13 carries. Wisconsin is still exceedingly difficult to run on. However, the fact that the Badgers suffocated UCLA's ground game, the lifeblood of their offense and their team, and still somehow found a way to lose the game, is eye-opening and points to issues in the secondary and on the offensive side of the ball.
What's next: Wisconsin returns to Madison to face USC. The currently No. 19-ranked Trojans will be fresh of a bye they were idle in Week 7. The Week 8 clash will be the Badgers' second-straight NBC primetime game, with kickoff slated for 6:30 P.M. CT.
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