Occasionally, the Wisconsin Badgers will give us something positive worth writing about on the football field. Despite being down 10-3 at home during halftime, the Badgers have made things quite challenging for the visiting No. 23 Washington Huskies. With their slim College Football Playoff dreams holding on by a thread, Wisconsin is doing its part to keep its bowl eligibility dreams alive.
Even though they lost this week's starting quarterback Danny O'Neil very early on in the game to what looks to be a major lower-body injury, the Badgers are hanging in there because of two things. That would be Mike Tressel's defense, as well as the allure of something promising with Carter Smith playing quarterback for them. In a way, that pairing may help the Badgers get back to winning games.
Tressel's had one sack of Demond Williams Jr. in the first half, as well as four tackles for a loss of yardage. It helped through Williams off his rhythm. This includes him throwing a terrible pass into the end zone that resulted in Ricardo Hallman coming up with an impressive and emotional interception. As for Smith operating under center, he is only a freshman, but he seems to be giving off good vibes.
Wisconsin may not win this game, but there are signs of hopefully a more positive tomorrow soon.
Wisconsin has Washington on upset alert despite Luke Fickell's coaching
There have been moments where Fickell has effectively taken the momentum out of Jeff Grimes' offense. While they were 1-for-2 on fourth-down attempts in the first half, Wisconsin was a dreadful 1-for-8 on third down. Just because Ryan Walters was an awful head coach at Purdue does not mean he does not know defense. He was great at that at Illinois and seems to be his his bag at Washington.
Overall, the future is now for Wisconsin. Because this team is not going to achieve bowl eligibility, it may serve them to see what Smith has going forward, especially if O'Neil is down for the count. There is a chance he may transfer again. Would you be surprised to see O'Neil, Billy Edwards Jr. and Hunter Simmons all enter the transfer portal again? Should Smith look good, then maybe they will have to go.
In the end, there will always be a limitation for Wisconsin with Fickell on the sidelines. We are talking about an at-best 8-4 ceiling should everything go his way. As far as the floor is concerned, we might be staring that in the face. Wisconsin is not going to be favored in any game the rest of the way. If they do not pull of the home upset of Washington, the Badgers may finish on an awful 10-game skid.
Truth be told, Tressel's has never been the problem, but consistently bad quarterback play sure has.