The Wisconsin Badgers’ perfect record is no more as the team dropped to 2-1 after a massive 42-10 loss to the visiting Alabama Crimson Tide.
The injury to starting quarterback Tyler Van Dyke and some issues the Badgers brought upon themselves were largely to blame for just how significant the deficit became, but there’s plenty of respect to be had for the offensive performance Alabama put on display behind star quarterback Jalen Milroe.
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Here’s a look into what we took away for both teams in the Alabama victory:
1. Jalen Milroe shines.
Alabama quarterback Jalen Milroe was one of the most highly ranked, yet one of the most polarizing quarterback prospects ahead of the season. But no one was doubting him on Saturday in what was an absolutely electric performance from the Crimson Tide signal-caller.
Milroe showed a need for development as a passer last season, but looked like a true dual-threat quarterback on Saturday.
He completed 12 of his 17 passing attempts for 196 yards and 3 touchdowns, but also was essential to the team’s success on the ground. The Badgers were unable to get to him on the ground as Milroe rushed for a team-high 75 yards and 2 touchdowns on 14 carries.
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2. Wisconsin offensive line performs
The Badgers had problems abound in the loss, mostly revolving around hurting themselves despite a strong performance out of Alabama. It’s hard to see the silver lining in a loss with a final score like this one, especially with how poorly coached of a game this was on head coach Luke Fickell’s end.
But one unit within the Badgers that performed particularly well was the offensive line. The group was solid in pass protection and opened up rushing lanes for the running backs that weren’t always utilized to the highest level as the Badgers were forced to change things up in a completely different direction on a whim in the face of Van Dyke’s injury.
Even though things look murky at quarterback for Wisconsin right now, the team at least knows they have what they need in front of him to win in the trenches.
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3. Injury issues continue to plague Tyler Van Dyke
Tyler Van Dyke just can’t stay healthy. His college career has been marred with injury issues and only continued to be when he was forced to leave the game with a knee injury in the first half. He was carted off the field after going into the injury tent, and came back out in the second half on crutches with a brace on his right knee.
The outlook on Van Dyke’s future doesn’t look positive, which Fickell himself indicated in the postgame press conference.
“We’ll get a little more clarity hopefully here soon, get an MRI and things like that,” Fickell said. “I don’t think it looks real good for us, for him.”
Originally leaning into the passing game, the Badgers were forced to switch up their way of doing things by leaning into the ground game, which didn’t completely pay off. Wisconsin will be forced to quickly adjust moving forward in a way that’s going to cause a lot of shakeup on offense.
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4. Alabama hits pay dirt on Wisconsin’s mistakes.
Alabama was the better team in its own right in this game, but the Crimson Tide also did not fail to make Wisconsin pay grandly for every mistake it made. By midway through the third quarter, the Crimson Tide had already capitalized on 14 points off of turnovers from the Badgers.
Alabama scored a touchdown after a turnover on down on Wisconsin’s second drive, made it to the end zone yet another time in the final minute of the second quarter after a missed Badgers field goal and fumbled twice, which the Tide also took advantage of.
Crissy Froyd covers college football for Sportsnaut.com. Follow on X @crissy_froyd