The Wisconsin loss to Alabama is rough. It was a tough pill to swallow; the Badgers were supposed to be better this year. While they didn't need to win to prove that, they needed to showcase a better product overall. It's hard to say that happened, and maybe it's not fair to say there was only one silver lining, because I'm sure there were more, but one is all this game deserves.
The Badgers have a drastically better run defense. Last season, the Badgers at this point (3 games in) had allowed a whopping 424 yards rushing. Each of those three games featured a rushing defense that allowed over 100 yards on the ground. That has yet to happen this season.
Wisconsin dominated along the defensive line and that's something to build on
Related: Luke Fickell's postgame message still isn't good enough after brutal loss to Alabama
The Badgers started the season by allowing only 34 yards rushing against Miami (OH). Then, when Middle Tennessee came to town, it actually got better by one whole yard, only allowing 33 yards on the ground. Alabama was going to prove whether it was fool's gold or not. The Crimson Tide rushed for 72 yards.
Even that 72-yard number is a bit of false advertising because if you isolate just the running backs, take out the trick plays, and the quarterback scrambles. The defense only allowed 45 yards rushing to Alabama. That's actually incredible.
Not that we should isolate it anymore or inflate the number to a weird place, BUT it is a silver lining piece, so allow a little nonsense. If you take out the one explosive run for starting running back Kevin Riley, who busted an 11-yard rush once in the game, you're looking at 34 yards by the running backs on the ground. Of course, we have to count those 11 yards, but still. That's wildly impressive.
This will matter come Big Ten play. While the conference does have some good quarterbacks, they can't all save their team like Alabama's Ty Simpson was able to do.