MADISON, Wis. — In an ideal world for Wisconsin football, the Badgers would have built a multi-score lead early during their season opener and never relented, cruising to the type of victory that said one thing to ease an uncertain fan base searching for more: Hey, this is progress.

That’s not exactly what transpired during Wisconsin’s 28-14 victory against Western Michigan on Friday night. Yes, the Badgers did end up winning by multiple touchdowns. They also trailed by a point as late as four minutes into the fourth quarter and needed a fortuitous bounce on a muffed punt just to end up in scoring position for the go-ahead touchdown.

It was a performance that, while able to avert calamity, left plenty of questions on the table about whether this team — and especially this offense — will take the necessary steps forward in Luke Fickell’s second season after a 7-6 debut.

“I’ve been in these games before, and sometimes they’re not the most fun,” Fickell said. “But what it comes down to is you’ve got to find a way and you got to make some adjustments that maybe you didn’t envision you’d have to make, you didn’t want to make in game one. But you have to make some of those adjustments. And we did.”

Relive last night’s win 🦡 pic.twitter.com/10af1WvGuQ

— Wisconsin Football (@BadgerFootball) August 31, 2024

Fickell acknowledged earlier in the week that “we know as little as we ever have known” about an opponent entering the first game of the season, and the chess match that ensued has to be factored into the equation. Western Michigan coach Lance Taylor hired a new offensive coordinator and defensive coordinator during the offseason. As a result, Wisconsin quarterback Tyler Van Dyke said he spent the week watching clips of Louisiana Tech, where Broncos defensive coordinator Scott Power previously worked.

“They didn’t show any of what they did there,” Van Dyke said. “They were trying to keep everything in front of them, playing a lot of Cover 3 and not letting us take any of the deep shots, really.”

Even if the opener provided unexpected challenges, this was still a game against a MAC team coming off a 4-8 season that Wisconsin had hoped to dominate. The Badgers were, after all, 24-point betting favorites. As Wisconsin readies for Week 2 foe South Dakota — ranked fifth in the FCS Top 25 — with Alabama looming the following week, we’re left to wonder exactly what the result means.

A year ago, Wisconsin opened the Fickell era with a 38-17 victory against MAC opponent Buffalo that foreshadowed the team’s uneven offensive performances because the Badgers led by just four points in the third quarter. Wisconsin then averaged just 23.5 points per game, its fewest in 19 years. Is this group in for more of the same?

There were at least some encouraging signs. Wisconsin’s 1-2 running back combination of Chez Mellusi and Tawee Walker ran with tenacity and power. Both players scored on touchdown runs that featured them knocking back defenders on the way to the end zone. Fickell said the primary objective was to run the ball and establish a physical identity, even if it meant sacrificing on some deep passes.

Wisconsin’s top two slot receivers, Will Pauling and Trech Kekahuna, are dynamic and should be among Van Dyke’s favorite targets all season. The offensive line allowed just one sack when Van Dyke remained in the pocket too long and didn’t throw the ball away. Van Dyke himself produced some decent moments, looking at ease on quick throws over the middle and showing a willingness as a ball carrier on read options. Wisconsin’s first four drives went for 16 plays, 16 plays, 14 plays and 14 plays — the type of possession control reminiscent of previous Badgers regimes.

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But within all those positives were enough concerns to keep the coaching staff busy. For one, those four 14-plus-play drives yielded just one touchdown despite the Badgers reaching the red zone each time. Wisconsin offensive coordinator Phil Longo can spread defenses out with his version of the Air Raid, but that becomes trickier in a more condensed part of the field. The Badgers ranked 63rd nationally in red zone offense last season and scored a touchdown just 63 percent of the time.

Fickell said the lack of red zone efficiency was glaring in the opener. Van Dyke’s decision-making was a part of that process. He threw a couple of passes that could have been intercepted, including one in the end zone before Wisconsin settled for a field goal to take a 13-7 third-quarter lead. Van Dyke also lost a fumble when he scrambled out of the pocket and kept the ball too loose in one hand as he was being pursued.

Perhaps the most disappointing aspect for the offense was the lack of explosive plays. Mellusi averaged 3.9 yards per carry and Walker 4.4 yards. Wisconsin produced 11 pass plays of at least 10 yards but none of at least 20 yards, with Van Dyke often finding his pass catchers on shorter throws. Van Dyke’s longest pass play came on a third-and-6 early in the third quarter when he tossed a quick completion to Pauling, who turned upfield and did the rest of the work on a 17-yard gain. Rarely did the Badgers even attempt anything down the field. Of Van Dyke’s 36 attempts, only three were thrown with 15-plus air yards, per TruMedia. None were completed.

Mellusi attributed the overall performance to “some first-game jitters.”

“It’s definitely frustrating,” Mellusi said. “But watching film all week, their goal was to stop the run. Not to say we weren’t expecting to break a big one. Of course you want to break a big one all the time. But you’ve got to be OK with the 4- or 5-yarders, and eventually you’re going to bust one.”

Former Wisconsin coach Barry Alvarez used to cite a theory he gleaned from Lou Holtz that a great team needed five great players and no glaring weaknesses. Fickell was asked whether he believed a lack of playmakers on this team was an issue.

“It’s hard to say whether there’s not enough playmakers on the field,” Fickell said. “If you’ve been here long enough, you know that there’s going to be days — I don’t want to make excuses — days like this. But games like this, that all of a sudden become that slow, methodical. I would think around here, you’ve seen a few of those. It’s not what maybe you envision every single day. It’s not maybe what we envision going into this thing, but I give our guys a lot of credit for their ability to adjust and adapt.”

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Wisconsin does indeed deserve at least some credit for how it finished because the outcome could have been much worse. Western Michigan took a 14-13 lead on Jalen Buckley’s 1-yard touchdown run with 14:15 remaining in the fourth quarter — a potentially backbreaking moment for the Badgers after the Broncos converted a fake field goal into a 26-yard run and a first down to the 4-yard line.

Wisconsin took advantage of a Western Michigan’s muffed punt by scoring the go-ahead touchdown in just three plays, on Walker’s 6-yard run. The defense then stopped Western Michigan on a fourth-and-1 at midfield, which led to the Badgers scoring on Van Dyke’s 6-yard keeper to account for the final margin.

“We all rallied together,” Badgers inside linebacker Jake Chaney said. “Nobody really flinched. There’s a lot of work to be done, but that was a good team win and I don’t think that should be overlooked.”

Returning players and coaches said all offseason that the second year under Fickell and Longo felt different and that things were operating more smoothly. There were signs of momentum during spring and preseason practices, though it always comes with a caveat until it translates to the games.

Based on Wisconsin’s season-opening performance, there is substantial room for growth. And while progress means different things for different teams, the Badgers will need much more of it to have any chance of moving the needle this season.

(Top photo: Jeff Hanisch / USA Today)

The Wisconsin football team faces some challenging teams in 2024, with three of its opponents (Alabama, Oregon and Penn State) in the preseason top 10.

Western Michigan wasn’t supposed to be among the biggest tests. They were predicted to be seventh in the Mid-American Conference.

But the Broncos gave the Badgers all they could handle for much of the season opener on Friday at Camp Randall Stadium and even led Wisconsin briefly in the fourth quarter before Luke Fickell’s squad finally rallied for the 28-14 win.

There were some notable performances like Chez Mellusi’s impressive comeback — it was his first game since fracturing his fibula nearly a year ago — the important fourth-down stand in the fourth quarter that led to the Badgers’ final score and the incredible interception late in the game by true freshman Xavier Lucas.

But the Badgers, despite controlling the time of possession, also left the game with mistakes to clean up.

It began with a missed field goal, it continued when they couldn’t finish long drives for a large chunk of the game and it didn’t look good after they allowed a fake field goal that turned into Western Michigan’s go-ahead score in the fourth quarter.

And taking into account the frustrating 2023 season, the showing for three-plus quarters led fans on social media to feel very uneasy about the prospects for the rest of the year.

5 takeaways: In Wisconsin football’s 28-14 win over Western Michigan in season opener

The Badgers should again be heavy favorites next week —they were favored by 24 points on Friday — against FCS opponent South Dakota, but national title contender Alabama comes to town in a couple weeks.

Here’s how social media reacted to Wisconsin’s Week 1 game.

Wisconsin defeats Western Michigan, 28-14

Ricardo Hallman is a reigning All-American for a reason

Xavier Lucas makes incredible interception late in the game with the Badgers ahead 28-14

Wisconsin football fans weren’t feeling too good about the showing for much of the game

Western Michigan took a 14-13 lead with 14:15 left in the fourth quarter after Jalen Buckley ran it in from 1-yard out. The Broncos’ TD came six plays after they recovered a fumble from Badgers quarterback Tyler Van Dyke at their own 34-yard line late in the third quarter.

The Badgers would regain the lead, 21-14, at the 10:35 mark after Walker scored from 6 yards out and Van Dyke connected with Trech Kekahuna in the back of the end zone for the two-point conversion.

The TD was set up thanks to a gift from Western Michigan. Wisconsin’s special teams recovered a live ball on a punt after it hit a retrieving Bronco on his back as he was running down the field.

The Badgers held the lead the rest of the way but that likely didn’t change a lot of fans’ perceptions.

MILWAUKEE – Health officials in Wisconsin are urging the public not to let their guard down when it comes to mosquitoes this Labor Day weekend.

The Wisconsin Department of Health Services confirmed two people have died and another was hospitalized this year because of West Nile virus. 

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Individuals who become infected with West Nile Virus might feel body aches, vomiting, diarrhea, headache and rash. Lindsey Page, director of the Milwaukee Health Department’s infectious disease program, said roughly one-in-five people experience those symptoms – but most people don’t.

“Most people recover completely from West Nile virus,” Page said.

A more severe neuroinvasive form of the virus can develop that causes meningitis, which is swelling of the brain or spinal cord.

“We have long sleeves,” said Priya Jacobs. “Try to pack as many clothes as we can, or shoes, hiking gear, making sure that we got all the stuff that we need just to be outside.”