ANN ARBOR, Mich. — Two words hung in the minds of the Wisconsin Badgers (1-1 Big Ten, 4-1 overall) as they left the Big House after their 14-7 loss to the No. 4 Michigan Wolverines (2-0, 5-0): missed opportunities.
Michigan gave UW a number of chances to take control of the game, as the usually sound Wolverines played their sloppiest game of the season, but time and time again the Badgers failed to capitalize.
“We couldn’t really get any drives going,” redshirt freshman quarterback Alex Hornibrook said. “When we did, there was opportunities that we should have taken advantage of—I should have taken advantage of—and we just couldn’t execute.”
Hornibrook placed the blame on himself as most good leaders at quarterback do after a loss. In his second-career start, he deserved a fair share of it, finishing a mere 9-of-25 for only 88 yards, one touchdown and three costly interceptions.
After leading Wisconsin to a huge victory last week against Michigan State, Hornibrook lost the remarkable touch he had on deep throws. He left touchdowns on the field on three separate throws, failing to connect with open receivers down field with nothing but daylight in front of them. One of those throws was intercepted; another should have been.
Even so, the Badgers only lost this game by seven points and were in it to the very end. The team failed to take advantage of the opportunities that Michigan presented them.
“You’ve got to give a lot of credit to our defense. They played real hard, and they gave us the ball a lot,” redshirt sophomore center Brett Connors said. “It’s just got to come down to offensive execution. We have to take the ball, take what they give us and we’ve got to drive it in for a touchdown.”
What allowed Wisconsin to stay in the game for so long, more than anything, was three missed field goals by redshirt senior Michigan kicker Kenny Allen, including two on back-to-back drives in the second quarter. The Badgers should have been down 13-0 at halftime, but instead it was a one-score lead after two and a tie game after three.
Wisconsin drove into Wolverines territory and came away with no points on three separate drives, including its first series in the fourth quarter, when the Badgers needed it most. It wasn’t just Hornibrook, though. It was the offensive linemen losing their blocks, receivers dropping passes and running backs missing lanes.
“It was really hard to get going, but sometimes there were some opportunities that I took advantage of, and sometimes there wasn’t anything there,” senior running back Corey Clement said. “I just think if we had a few more tries and opportunities in the red zone, we would have been able to punch it in a few times, but we can’t really point fingers at anybody.”
Despite holding a potent Michigan offense to only 14 points, the Badger defenders also left their share of plays on the field. Junior cornerback Lubern Figaro got both hands on a second-quarter pass by redshirt sophomore Wolverines quarterback Wilton Speight, while fellow junior cornerback Derrick Tindal was burned deep in the fourth quarter for the go-ahead touchdown.
It was far from a perfect game for this Wisconsin defense, and they were not excusing themselves from any of the blame.
“I think that we just have to kind of play as a team more,” redshirt junior linebacker Jack Cichy said. “We have a lot of things to correct on defense, and I think that the more we can correct those, and the more we can kind of learn and grow from those, the better off we’ll be as the Badgers.”
UW will look back at this game and feel like it was the one that got away, but head coach Paul Chryst won’t let the players dwell on it. Missed opportunities on Saturday become learning opportunities on Monday, especially with the team entering its week off.
“We’ve got to spin it as a positive and use it as motivation for these next couple weeks, and obviously there’s a ton of room that could be made to improve,” Hornibrook said. “On this bye week, we’re going to hone down on that and improve. It’s all moving forward from now.”
