The Wisconsin Badgers were blown out __ by the No. 4 Notre Dame Fighting Irish in their season opener at Lambeau Field, leaving a lot of questions ahead of a crucial season for the Badgers.
It was a competitive battle early for Luke Fickell’s team, but a quick 14-point turnaround to start the third quarter was too much to overcome for the Badgers, as Notre Dame continued to put the finishing touches on a dominant win.
Here are three quick takeaways from Wisconsin’s Week 1 loss to the Irish.
Colton Joseph provides mixed results
With Colton Joseph at the helm, we saw parts of what the Badgers want to do on offense: dominate the ground game while taking the occasional vertical shot. Offensive coordinator Jeff Grimes tried to make life easier on his quarterback with screens and some quick passes, but the Old Dominion transfer provided a mixed bag in his first game as a Badger.
It is clear that Wisconsin’s run game should be better in 2026, both due to Joseph’s threat as a runner and improved play from the offensive line. But it’s also clear that Joseph is still learning the nuances of the position and the offense.
The Badgers had a ton of zone-read looks, and Joseph’s decision-making was questionable at times, including on a play in the second half where he took a big hit after pulling the ball for a short gain, despite there being a running lane for the back.
Joseph’s feet were also inconsistent on some dropbacks, especially when he had more time in the pocket and faced pressure. He looked cleaner on quicker dropbacks (aside from the one miscommunication that led to a pick-six), but he threw a couple of balls flat-footed or off his back foot that weren’t accurate.
Joseph was also late on some decisions, which a strong Notre Dame defense capitalized on. But there were some positives, such as the 28-yard touchdown to Malachi Coleman, where the wideout beat his cornerback on a stop-and-go.
Wisconsin ran Joseph quite a bit, giving him 10 carries, with most coming via design. We’ll see how that evolves over the course of the season, but it was a mixed bag from the transfer quarterback against a very good Notre Dame defense.
Timing will improve with receivers, and the Badgers will face easier defenses than Notre Dame’s. But Joseph’s performance tracks with what I had seen and heard this offseason. We’ll see how he fares in Week 2.
Tale of two halves
Many people will be down on the Badgers because of the final score. And it’s very fair to be so after the second-half performance, which Luke Fickell acknowledged after the game.
There are no moral victories. But I thought there was some real solid stuff to take away from the first half on Sunday. Wisconsin’s defense played quite well as a whole. We saw the interior defensive line battle against a pretty quality Notre Dame offensive line and stop the run at a high rate. It wasn’t just them. Wisconsin’s linebackers were aggressive, and I thought Matt Jung had a very solid half from a tackling and attacking perspective, hunting the ball on the ground.
Notre Dame had just 29 rushing yards in the first half on 1.8 yards per carry. That was a job well done, and the Irish had just 13 points on offense, finding some success in the air. But even there, I thought the secondary did a fine job, especially on third downs, where Notre Dame was 0 of 6 in the first half.
Offensively, I thought Wisconsin showed some solid things on the ground. It wasn’t at a fantastic rate, and the Badgers generated no explosives on the ground. But that’s not what they needed. They just had to move the ball and get into manageable situations to ease the burden on their passing game.
On Wisconsin’s field goal drive in the first half, the Badgers had rushes of four and seven yards that led to a first down. That’s good enough. It’s avoiding the negative or net-zero rushes that have to come. You can afford those when you generate explosives, but Wisconsin is still getting there.
Special teams also had their moments and blunders. Wisconsin’s first break came when Liam Danitz blocked a punt, leading to great field position for Wisconsin’s first field goal. The touchdown drive came with plus field position after Sean West had a phenomenal 70-yard punt that rolled out of bounds at the one-yard line. There was also the fumbled kickoff that led to Notre Dame’s lone first-half touchdown.
But going into halftime, there were a lot of positives to take away, as well as the things to work on (pass game, defensive pass game adjustments to quick throws/checkdowns, etc.).
The second half is where things started to get ugly. Wisconsin, which was tackling quite well in the first half, became too undisciplined and didn’t tackle very well, leading to a ton of yards after the catch. Mike Tressel didn’t adjust to Notre Dame exploiting the softer coverages in the air with a pass-first mentality, hitting those intermediate in-breaking routes, checkdowns, and quick releases. That opened up the run game a bit more for Notre Dame as Wisconsin wore down and the tackling fell off.
The Badgers also had the very costly pick-six that really killed them, as Notre Dame took a 27-10 lead from that. The offense couldn’t run the ball well in the second half, Colton Joseph took a few hits, and he was also inconsistent in the pass game, with Notre Dame having great coverage.
It was really that start of the third that was the back-breaker for the Badgers. Wisconsin gave up long touchdown drives and couldn’t respond, with Notre Dame scoring touchdowns on each of their three second-half drives.
They’ve got to figure out how to defend the pass. While many will point blame to the secondary, there was a clear shift between the first and second half. Wisconsin’s corners were physical in the first half, rallying to the ball and making plays short of the sticks. They weren’t that in the second half, being asked to play off, which Notre Dame exploited with quicker throws from CJ Carr.
Wisconsin’s linebackers were also over-aggressive towards the run at times, which will be a learning point. But the Badgers have fast corners who can be physical. It’s time to press more or at least play buzz to take away some of those quicker routes that make life easier on the quarterback.
Transfers play a ton
Wisconsin had 17 new starters on Sunday. A good number of those were transfers, as a ton of new players saw the field a lot. One thing that is notable is that Wisconsin is deeper, which, in theory, should aid their special teams. We’ll see if that comes to fruition.
The obvious standout was Malachi Coleman, who caught national headlines with a nasty stutter-and-go that froze cornerback Jayden Sanders, resulting in a wide-open 28-yard touchdown catch.
Coleman ran a very similar route out of the slot for a major conversion and a 17-yard gain later in the game, displaying his quickness out of breaks.
At the very least, Coleman, at 6’4, provides the Badgers with a true vertical threat that can test defenses with his speed. That should get Wisconsin a couple of explosives this year, and could help out the team over the middle of the field if Colton Joseph can become better in that area.
Abu Sama provided a good, but mixed bag in his first game as a Badger, rushing for 49 yards on 15 carries. He hit a couple of holes early, and his speed was clear on a few bounces to the outside. But he did dance a bit too much, trying to hit the edge with his speed rather than cutting up the field vertically, which Luke Fickell noted postgame. That needs to improve, especially as I thought the offensive line had some moments on Sunday.
He’s got real juice and is the clear RB1, but the vision and decision-making will have to be better going forward.
On defense, former transfer Matt Jung gave us two different performances, as I thought he played real well in the first half before struggling to tackle in the second half. Honestly, I didn’t think poorly of the cornerbacks, much unlike a lot of fans postgame.
Bryce West had three tackles and two pass breakups. We saw him be physical (although he also had some missed tackles) and willing at the nickel. Javan Robinson had a nice PBU on the boundary to go with six tackles. I just thought the corners got targeted when being asked to play soft, with Notre Dame adjusting well at the end of the first half and in the second half. That’s a game plan and defensive coordinator issue.
Up front, I thought Hammond Russell had a couple of nice stops in the run game. He seems like a solid addition for the defensive line on early downs.
Overall, a lot is going to be asked of Joseph, Sama, the offensive linemen, and the cornerbacks. It was a mixed bag in Week 1, and we’ll see what changes in Week 2.
