The Wisconsin Badgers fell 17-7 to the No. 12 UCLA Bruins on the road on Saturday on a day where nothing seemed to go their way. Wisconsin struggled offensively, with Colton Joseph throwing for just 66 passing yards.
Defensively, while the Badgers were exceptional against the run, they could not get off the field on third down, as UCLA had 13 third-down conversions.
Speaking to reporters after the game, head coach Luke Fickell was not pleased with his team’s performance, breaking it down and looking forward to a key game against the USC Trojans next weekend.
Here’s everything Fickell said after Wisconsin’s loss to UCLA.
Opening statement…
Well, we didn’t play real well tonight, um, that’s for sure, and I’ll take the heat on that. Like, there’s no way you’re going to go on the road and have as many penalties and play as undisciplined as we did and you think you’re gonna be able to beat a really good football team. And so that was evident. That was evident in the first half, and it didn’t change a whole lot in the second half. There’s an aggressiveness nature to things, but we can’t shoot ourselves in the foot. And, you know, that’s the first glaring thing.
And obviously third downs, everybody will see, and it’s easy to point at. We did a really poor job defensively on third down. I got to give them a lot of credit. They did a really good job on third down. But the extending of drives and keeping our offense off the field, which our offense didn’t do a good enough job on third down as well, but I look at it a little bit also on defense is we didn’t give them enough opportunities based on the drives that they were able to put together. And so all in all, it’s tough.
I thought we’d had a really good couple weeks. I thought we were in a really good place. We went out there today and didn’t play like I’d seen us play, didn’t have the consistency to do the things, the little things really well, and it showed up. And so we’re gonna have to, we’re gonna have to pick ourselves back up here real quick, get back home, get back at it because it’s not going to get any easier.
On what UCLA did good…
You know what, they did a good job. They completed some balls, made some really good throws. Actually, to be honest with you, I think that they protected better than I would have expected. We wanted to get after quarterback like we want to every week, and we’ve done a pretty good job at putting pressure on quarterbacks, whether they result in sacks or not. We just have made quarterbacks uncomfortable, and we did not do a good enough job of that. I didn’t think we got much rush from the edge.
When we did get some rush on some of the game stuff, the ball was out. They made some really good plays. He threw some balls, those guys made some really good catches. You kind of saw it in the first half. It’s like, we’re going to have to find a way to change the momentum. We’re going to have to make some of the plays that they’re making in man coverage. And we didn’t on our side, and we didn’t on the defensive side either.
On what didn’t connect in passing game…
I don’t know. You know, I thought we had decent protection. I think there was some time. It comes down to you got to make some plays. And if they’re playing man coverage, you got to win at times. And I don’t know that we did that today. I mean, they did a good job, give them credit for mixing up some man, a little bit more zone than what we maybe had anticipated. But we got to find a way to do better. Like I said, we got to take some of those shots. We got to give our guys some opportunities. But we got to make some plays. And I think that’s where one of the bigger glaring issues or differences is their wideouts made some plays. I mean, whether they were pretty good throws or behind them throws or winning in man coverage, they made the plays they had to make to keep the drives alive. And I don’t know that we did.
On preparing for Ty Dieffenbach on short notice…
No, I don’t know that we thought there would be much different, to be honest. I mean, what we had seen him do is throw a lot more deep balls, just the nature of where he had been and what he had done. I thought that he did a heck of a job today at not taking the deep balls. He completed the intermediate routes. He completed the over routes. He completed the underneath routes much better than maybe what we had seen him do in the past, whether obviously here or even where he was before. But I think that put him in a good position to make some plays. And I thought his wideouts stepped up and made plays for him.
On the penalties, whether Fickell felt there were missed calls…
I was on the officials. I don’t know if it’s rightfully so, to be honest. I mean, we didn’t do a good enough job, and it comes back to us. I was frustrated with, you know, maybe it was 7-2 (penalty differential) at halftime, the number of penalties, and I don’t know that we got any better. And so I don’t know exactly what they were. I know there were some bigger ones on the PIs that cost us on like 3rd and 15 or 16.
But the taunting penalty, the roughing the passer penalty, the undisciplined things that like I’d like to say are uncharacteristic of some of the things that we’ve done. I can handle aggressive mistakes. I can handle aggressive penalties at times. There’s going to be those. We had quite a few stupid penalties, and it’s got to fall back onto the discipline of ourselves.
On if he got explanation for Malachi Coleman’s blindside block flag…
No, I didn’t get a great explanation. They said it’s a blindside block.
On Abu Sama performance, health…
I don’t know that we did a great job at anything. So I don’t know. I mean, Abu was okay. He was able to play. He was cleared to play. We had a plan for him to play. Him and DeeDee (Darrion Dupree) were kind of going to be the 2 guys and the one-two punch. But I don’t know. Again, we had 25 snaps in the first half. That’s really tough to get into a rhythm.
So I can’t just throw it all on them. But when you do get those opportunities, you got to make the most of them. And so we’ve got to do a better job at creating some things. It’s hard to methodically drive the ball down the field on really good football teams. I mean, you got to find ways. They did it tonight. They methodically drove the ball down 84, 91. I don’t even know what the other one was. That’s not usually a recipe for a lot of success, which they did tonight. But we got to find a way to not only be able to be methodical when we have to, but we got to find a way to create some bigger plays.
On how to not let loss linger with USC, Iowa up next…
Well, I mean, we knew this was going to be a journey. We knew there was going to be some ups and downs. You go on the road, it’s tough, and it is what it is, right? I mean, you got to pick yourself back up. I mean, we’re going to get home at 3:30 in the morning, whatever that is. And that’s no excuse, right? I mean, we got to go back to work. And we’ve been able to handle some success and some really big wins and not let it affect us. So we got to be able to do the same thing with a loss.
We talk about this, no arrogance or delusion. And that happens to mean something too after a tough loss too. Can’t be arrogant enough to not think that this was on us. And there’s some things we got to do a hell of a lot better. And you can’t be delusional to think that we’re not very good, and it works on both ways. So, we’ll rely a lot on the leadership of our guys and get back at it.
On OL change with Stylz Blackmon at center, PJ Wilkins at right guard…
Well, Austin (Kawecki) obviously had a broken hand, and so Austin was not going to be able to go. And so we had moved Stylz in there to see how he would do and how he could handle the snapping. Ryan Cory did a good job in the Michigan State game when he came in. We felt like we had 2 guys that could go there and felt like we were going to go with Stylz and leave PJ at guard. Just felt like that was going to be the best combination. Didn’t know if we were going to be able to have to play 6 or 7 of those guys up front. Austin was available if we needed him. But, you know, obviously the way the game went, [that wasn’t going to be the case].
On what Jaylon Domingeaux can do for the offense…
We talked about it. We got to find guys who are going to make plays. He made a pretty good play on 3rd and 18, come up two [yards] short, but nonetheless a big play. And we’ve got to gain some confidence in that and him and give him some more opportunities. I think we took a couple shots down the field. We got to come down with some of those balls. And I think I had 2 opportunities. I don’t know if the ball was right there or if it wasn’t there. Is the guy hanging on? It is what it is. We got to find a way to come down with some of those things, and we got to find a way to connect with some of those things.
On decision to punt with five minutes left down 10…
Yeah, there was [a thought to go for it]. And all I said to the offense was just get us in a manageable one, inside of 6, 7 yards. To be back on your own 15 or 20 and 4th and 10 or 12, guys, that’s not a great situation for us. So, we missed our first field goal, which is a momentum thing too when there’s points where it’s hard to come by as they are. And we put ourselves into a position, then we take a sack. I mean, there’s a litany of things that we didn’t do a real good job of, and they took advantage of them.
On PJ Wilkins in pass protection…
I’m gonna have to watch the film. I know that we got a holding call on a pretty blatant rush up the middle. I don’t know exactly what it was or what it is. But I thought second half-wise, I thought we did a better job at handling some of that stuff, but not good enough.
On Matt Jung targeting play…
Yeah, I mean, if they deem it targeting, it’s targeting. I hate it. It stinks. It’s not his play. We kind of botched the coverage and he’s just cleaning us up, based on the situation where you turn a guy loose. So it’s kind of twofold. It stinks for him. It’s one of those bang-bang things. It wasn’t malicious by any means. I mean, there’s nobody that hurts more because of it than him. But it’s just one of those things we all learn from.
On how key it is to have him next week…
It’s big. I mean, it’s really big. It’s big for the guys. I think it’s a good rule. We’re not here to talk about rules. We’ve got a hell of a lot more to talk about. But, as much as these guys work and what they put into it, and a guy like that, that, non-malicious of any sorts, and it happens, it’s good that it doesn’t linger over into another week. Very good.