Wisconsin came out of its bye week absolutely flat Saturday in Pasadena.
The Badgers limited the Bruins' vaunted ground game, but that's about all they did well as they were ultimately doomed by penalties galore, a porous secondary and an offense that was largely inept all night.
There's no rest for the weary; Wisconsin must now gear up to face a ranked, loaded USC team back home in Madison as the defining stretch of the season carries on. Below, Badgers On SI takes a look at a handful of key Pro Football Focus grades and numbers from Wisconsin's Week 7 loss:
OFFENSE
Best Offensive Grade: OT Kevin Heywood (71.6)
Worst Offensive Grade: TE Emmett Bork (31.8)
Other Notable Grades:
- Only one player (Heywood) received an offensive grade of 70 or higher.
- Some poor pass-blocking grades in particular, with center Stylz Blackmon posting a 29.8 and guard PJ Wilkins logging a 25.1.
- TE Jacob Harris notched the highest specific grade with a 74.7 for run-blocking.
- RB Abu Sama had a comically bad pass-blocking grade of 6.8 — considering he only had four reps in pass protection, I can’t wait to watch the film there.
Miscellaneous offensive notes:
- QB Colton Joseph, unsurprisingly, had zero “big time throws” to one turnover-worthy play.
- Joseph was pressured on 11 of his 21 drop-backs.
- UCLA brought the pressure; Joseph was blitzed on 16 of 21 drop-backs.
- Wisconsin forced a total of six missed tackles. Running back Darrion Dupree had two, Joseph had two and Sama had one.
- Wisconsin was credited with allowing 10 pressures; PJ Wilkins had three, Blackmon had two while a host of other players had one each.
DEFENSE
Best Defensive Grade: LB Mason Posa (77.5)
Worst Defensive Grade: DL Michael Garner (47.4)
Other Notable Grades:
- Posa notched an elite run defense grade of 90.7.
- Though DL Junior Poyser did a nice job penetrating into the backfield Saturday, and that was reflected with his 85.0 pass-rush grade, he was given a tackling grade of 16.2.
- Notching two interceptions, safety Marvin Burks had a coverage grade of 82.6.
- Five Badgers notched a tackling grade of 80 or higher: Posa, linebacker Sebastian Cheeks, nickel Bryce West, safety Cairo Skanes and safety Matt Jung.
Miscellaneous Defensive notes:
- Wisconsin created 21 pressures on 38 UCLA drop-backs. Posa and outside linebacker Nick Clayton each had five, Cheeks had three, while inside backer Cooper Catalano and outside backers Tyreese Fearbry and Justus Boone each had two.
- The Badgers were credited with five missed tackles; cornerback Jai’mier Scott was the leading culprit with two.
- Posa once again added to his heft “stop” total, or plays that constitute a failure for the offense, with six. Cheeks notched four, while Catalano and Jung had three apiece.
- Cornerback Javan Robinson wasn’t targeted once.
- On the flip side, Scott saw the most targets with six, but he only allowed two catches.
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