It was once again a tale of two halves for the Wisconsin Badgers last Saturday. Although the final score of 42-10 will not reflect it, the Badgers had their challenges with the Middle Tennessee Blue Raiders throughout the entire first half. The team struggled to get the running game going, as the offense looked largely pedestrian heading into halftime. That is when everything started to change.
Apparently, Week 2's starting quarterback Danny O'Neil was one of the handful of Wisconsin players to speak up at halftime about how their latest first-half showing was not acceptable. He said that he was not alone in trying to light a fire in this team, but his remarks to the offensive linemen to play with a little more fire and anger in their bellies seemed to have gone a long way for the Badgers in this one.
Wisconsin improved to 2-0 with the Week 2 victory, hoping to try their luck vs. Alabama on Saturday.
What Danny O'Neil said to light a fire inside of his Wisconsin teammates
O'Neil said the following about Wisconsin football needing to get back to its standard after the game.
"Yeah, I was one of the guys that spoke up and said, 'We're not playing to who we are. Like, this is Wisconsin football!' Having 17 rushing yards at half is not acceptable. So just being able to challenge the guys up front to play with a little more anger, a little bit more juice. Playing with a little more swagger and confidence. It allowed them to come out and play a little bit more free and be really locked into the run game."
O'Neil did make it a point to say he was not the only one to speak up at halftime during this ballgame.
"I'm not sure how many rushing yards we had in the second half, but it was a whole lot more than 17. So just being able to come out here and have the guys respond to me, and to coach, and to the rest of the guys that did speak up at halftime, just playing to our standard and playing to who we are."
Here is the entire postgame interview from O'Neil following their Week 2 win over Middle Tennessee.
O'Neil completed 23-of-27 passes for 283 yards, three touchdowns and an interception in Week 2.
Danny O'Neil rose to the occasion like Luke Fickell always knew he would
While Wisconsin is starting to build a reputation as a second-half team, O'Neil does sort of embody the chip on the shoulder type of mantra that Luke Fickell and the rest of his team can rally behind. Whether it is "athletic arrogance" or the swagger of a young Baker Mayfield, O'Neil has that in droves. While it remains to be seen if he has it, he certainly has something about him as a young quarterback.
Fickell was hoping O'Neil would rise to the occasion and be the leader Wisconsin needed for this game. It was not always pretty, but when has Wisconsin football ever been pretty? Although it is hard to gauge if this type of second-half heroics can be sustained into Big Ten play, it is fun to watch Wisconsin take over from the third quarter on. It just shows this team is willing to make adjustments.
Overall, college football is not always about who has the best collection of players, but who plays the best together. There may be a definite ceiling with the latter, but we have seen one team after another come out of seemingly nowhere year after year to stun the entire college football world. Not saying Wisconsin is destined to be that team, but a come-from-behind win over Alabama might do the trick.
For now, Wisconsin football fans can rest easy knowing the team is in good hands with O'Neil today.