Wisconsin football fans got the first true showcase of Braedyn Locke in last season’s nail-biter win against Illinois when he stepped in for starting quarterback Tanner Mordecai following Mordecai’s injury in their previous game against Iowa. Again this year, Locke has unexpectedly stepped into the starting quarterback position, mirroring the team’s hardships from last season.
Locke, a Texas native who competed at the state’s highest level of high school football, led the Badgers to a 25-21 comeback victory with two touchdowns and 240 passing yards last year. Locke would go on to play well against the then-No. 3 Ohio State with a quarterback rating of 64.3, but he finished his time filling in for Mordecai with a crushing loss to 2-6 Indiana.
This past offseason, Wisconsin’s coaching staff began to feel confident in Locke, claiming he offered stiff competition to Miami transfer Tyler Van Dyke for the starting job. Following Van Dyke’s season-ending injury against No. 4 Alabama, questions were raised as to whether Locke could be a competent quarterback, especially in Big Ten play.
Although Locke couldn’t lead the offense to overcome Alabama’s top-tier defense, and his start against the University of Southern California produced his worst quarterback rating to date, the Purdue game would completely alter perceptions of Locke’s capabilities.
Locke finished the game with three touchdowns and a career-high 359 passing yards, leading the team to a 52-6 win over the Boilermakers. With this, fans began to notice Locke’s confidence in his ability and strong relations to his teammates that would define what the media began to call “Locke-Tober.”
Concerns about Locke’s capabilities and consistency still remained going into week six as the Badgers traveled to New Brunswick to take on Rutgers. This talk would quickly be shut down, however, as Wisconsin’s air raid offense crushed the Scarlet Knights 42-7.
With the Rutgers and Purdue wins under Locke’s belt and broadcasters’ praise of his skill and recent stats during the games, Locke-Tober was seemingly in full effect.
But this streak wouldn’t last long. A lackluster performance against Northwestern in week seven saw Locke log a 37.1 Quarterback Rating, his second lowest of the season. Still, the Badgers managed to pull away with a 23-3 victory, although it was a far cry from the numbers the team’s offense had put up in the prior two weeks.
After his slump against Northwestern, Locke had his work cut out for him in one of Wisconsin’s biggest games of the season thus far, then-No. 3 Penn State.
Fans had seen what Locke was capable of, but with Purdue’s poor season and Rutgers falling apart after their loss to the Badgers, the prospect of a major upset against a strong opponent seemed more and more unlikely.
These doubts would sadly prove to be true, as Wisconsin suffered a 28-13 loss at Camp Randall to the Nittany Lions’ crushing defense and an offense that ran like a well-oiled machine. Locke escaped from the defeat with 217 passing yards, a QBR of 54.2 and zero touchdowns. The quarterback Wisconsin fans had rallied behind during their three-game win streak couldn't go toe-to-toe with a top-ranked opponent.
With this loss, Locke-Tober ended in a very different way than it began. But Locke’s regression against Northwestern and Penn State shouldn’t dissuade fans from appreciating the stellar performances Locke gave earlier in the month and the improvement he’s made after having to unexpectedly step into the starting role.
Locke is clearly extremely confident in his ability. He’s not afraid to throw deep balls and create opportunities during plays that can help march the offense down the field. This type of player won’t be discouraged by losses to championship contending teams — they will learn from their mistakes and the pressure they felt and build off of it.
Locke has played on par if not better than Tanner Mordecai, whose more conservative play style didn’t seem to mesh well with the air raid offense head coach Luke Fickell wants for his offense. This offseason, offensive coordinator Phil Longo praised Locke for his football IQ and claimed he “is twice the player” he was last season.
Fans would be doing themselves a disservice not to rally behind this quarterback and should expect more big games out of him this season.
