Wisconsin
Wisconsin’s tale of 2 halves against USC proved the Badgers are stuck in old ways
LOS ANGELES — Members of Wisconsin’s football team walked off the LA Memorial Coliseum field at halftime with a brief sense of satisfaction. For two quarters, they had played as well as could be hoped to establish an 11-point lead that surprised a heavily favored USC crew and offered a glimmer of needed optimism for the program.
It was the team Wisconsin aspires to be under Luke Fickell — one that was aggressive, opportunistic and executing at a high level. Until it wasn’t.
The Badgers went from looking like they were ready to turn a corner to one that couldn’t fight their way out when backed into one. No. 13 USC hammered Wisconsin with four unanswered second-half touchdowns to secure a 38-21 victory on Saturday.
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In the process, the Badgers looked like the team they have too often been — erratic and mediocre. And for as much potential positivity as the first half offered, it was hard not to come away feeling like this was a lot of the same old, same old.
“We play every game like we played that first half, we’ll be really good,” Wisconsin safety Hunter Wohler said. “And we have it in us. We showed it today. We have it in us. We just have to find a way to play four quarters.”
Achieving that ambition has proven problematic for an offense and defense that haven’t answered key questions about how to consistently raise the bar. Wisconsin trailed Western Michigan by a point in the fourth quarter of its season opener before escaping with a victory, led FCS South Dakota by just four points late in the third quarter and lost by 32 points at home to Alabama two weeks ago. Now this.
In his first start of the season, Wisconsin QB Braedyn Locke completed 50 percent of his passes for 180 yards, one touchdown and one interception. (Kirby Lee / Imagn Images)
Wisconsin is 9-8 since the start of last season and 5-5 in Big Ten games under Fickell. The Badgers are 2-2 this season and 0-1 in league play. And with a schedule that still includes ranked foes Penn State and Oregon, as well as undefeated Rutgers, a one-loss Iowa on the road and a pesky Nebraska team, there’s no telling where they might end up. Fickell continues to stress the importance of ensuring everybody is motivated and on the same page.
“I told them in the locker room, they chose to come here,” Fickell said. “We all chose to put ourselves in this situation, knowing that the Big Ten is something that’s completely different now. So this is what we wanted. This is what we asked for and now we got it. Sometimes you’ve got to be a man and you’ve got to stand up. We’re all going to find out how we can handle adversity and how we can handle ourselves and what we can do to grow.”
Wisconsin deserves credit for its first-half performance against USC. Quarterback Braedyn Locke, who took over against Alabama after Tyler Van Dyke suffered a season-ending ACL tear in his right knee, delivered a pair of impressive deep balls to set an early tone. He threw a 63-yard touchdown pass to receiver Vinny Anthony II and a 35-yard pass to receiver Bryson Green to set up another score. But the explosive plays stopped there.
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Locke has an uncanny ability to complete 50 percent of his passes, which he has done for the entirety of his Wisconsin career. He completed 13 of 26 passes for a second consecutive game. And a quarterback who completes only half his passes figures to struggle to consistently win games in this league — particularly in an offense under coordinator Phil Longo that strives for run-pass balance. Wisconsin closed the game with four punts, a turnover on downs and a Locke pass that was intercepted by USC linebacker Mason Cobb and returned 55 yards for a touchdown.
The run game didn’t give Locke much relief. The biggest backbreaker occurred during the third quarter with Wisconsin leading 21-17 and facing a fourth-and-half-a-yard at the USC 33-yard line. The Badgers lined up in a shotgun and didn’t block the back side of the play, which allowed safety Kamari Ramsey to stuff Walker for no gain and a turnover on downs. USC scored on the next possession to take a 24-21 lead it wouldn’t relinquish.
It marked the second straight game in which Wisconsin failed to convert a fourth-and-1 running play from the shotgun. Fickell has taken heat from former players about the decision to use a shotgun in short-yardage situations, as Wisconsin’s entire offense has moved away from the under-center system established under previous staffs. He said it didn’t matter whether the play was called from the shotgun or under center because Wisconsin’s inability to block was more important.
“I’ve got to get it,” Walker said. “It’s fourth-and-1. It doesn’t matter how many people are in that box. I’ve got to get it.”
Wisconsin’s defense was equally uneven. Safety Preston Zachman made a diving interception of USC quarterback Miller Moss across midfield during the first half. And safety Austin Brown came off the edge to sack Moss and force a fumble that defensive lineman Ben Barten recovered. Then, the defense played in a manner that Zachman said was “the complete opposite in the second half.” It simply could not earn stops at critical junctures, as USC’s playmaking receivers devastated Wisconsin. The Badgers finished with three second-half first downs to the Trojans’ 13.
Moss converted passes on third-and-7 and third-and-15 before throwing a 6-yard touchdown to receiver Ja’Kobi Lane on third-and-goal to take the lead. USC finished 11-of-17 on third downs. It didn’t help that Wisconsin punt returner Tyrell Henry muffed a punt that led to a USC touchdown, returning the favor from a Trojans first-half muff that the Badgers converted into a score.
“We’ve got to find a way to be able to get the momentum back when things are going against us,” Fickell said. “That’s probably as big of an issue right now as there is. When it comes down to it, it’s not some magical thing you can say. It’s not like call timeout and call them all together and give them some speech. It’s like, ‘OK, men. Somebody’s got to step up. Somebody’s got to make a play. They’re not going to hand it to us.’”
How much is one half of good football worth when it comes on the road against a top-15 opponent? Wisconsin’s players attempted to find a silver lining in addressing that question afterward. Wohler said that while back-to-back losses look bad, he believed the Badgers were “trending upwards.” Anthony said, “We have plenty of film to show that we can hang with anybody,” while Zachman insisted “We’re right there.”
Sure, Wisconsin showed flashes of its potential Saturday. But it will take a heck of a lot more than that for the Badgers to become the team they want to be. Whether they can actually get over that hump is anybody’s guess.
(Top photo: Kirby Lee / Imagn Images)
WEST ALLIS (WLUK) — The Wisconsin State Fair unveiled dozens of new menu items coming to the fairgrounds for the 175th fair.
80 new food and drink options were unveiled Friday afternoon. Many of the items will feature Ellsworth Cooperative Creamery cheese curds, as they were declared the official cheese curds of the state fair. However, Door County cheese curds will be featured on the cheddar garlic longanisa lumpia, according to the list. It isn’t clear which Door County cheesemaker is supplying the cheese curds.
Here are all the new items coming to the fair:
- Al Pastor Pizza
- Bayou Crunch Cup
- Big Pat’s Pit Stop Punch
- Birria Flamin’ Bombs
- Biscoff Hot Fudge Cup
- Bloody Mary Mac Daddy
- Blue Ribbon Watermelon Mint Julep
- Bourbon Deep-Fried Pecan Pie
- Bugged Out Frozen Cheesecake On-a-Stick
- Bunzel’s Hungarian Sausage Sandwich
- Candied Bacon Cheese Curds
- Caramel Apple Cheese Curd Tacos
- Cevapcici – Croatian Sausage Sandwich
- Cheddar Garlic Longanisa Lumpia with Banana Ketchup
- Chicken Cordon Bleu Sausage
- Chimi-Brat-Changa
- Chocolate Covered Strawberry Sipper
- Churro Dog
- Circus Peanut Spritz
- Cold Foam Berry Blast
- Color-Changing Swamp Juice
- Cookie Butter Coffee Float
- Cosmic Funnel Cake
- Cranberry Dream Bar
- Cream City Cone
- Cuban Fries
- Deep Fried Horchata Balls
- Deep-Fried Ranch
- Deep-Fried Top The Tater
- Bloody Mary Pickles & Dill-icious Pickles
- Dill-uxe Pickle Fries
- Egg Roll A-la-Mode
- Ellsworth Fresh Cheese Curds
- Freedom Brat
- Freeze Dried Cheese Curds
- French Onion Cheese Pull
- Fruit Roll-Up Remix
- Gluten-Free Chimichurri Cheese Curds
- Guac This Way Tots
- Hawaiian Pizza Slush
- Hot Honey Bacon Corn Dog
- Hot Honey Chicken Lemonade
- Hot Honey Heatwave Fries
- Ice Cream Nachos
- Lemon-Lime Spritz
- Little Smokies Campfire Meal
- Monkey Bread
- Monster Blue Hawaiian Dirty Soda
- Nitro Cheesy Puffs
- Orange Creamsicle Lemonade
- Patriotic Punch
- Peach Beary Boba
- Peaches n’ Cream Whipped Frozen Lemonade
- Peachy Keen Cooler
- Pineapple Pop Paradise
- Pop’s Kettle Me Squeeze
- Porky Puff
- Potato Chip Sundae
- Ranch BLT Dog
- Red, White, & Berry
- Redneck Brat
- Smoked Pork Pierogi Sliders
- Soft Serve Beer
- Spam Jerky Sampler
- Star-Spangled Bomb Pop
- Sweet Lemon Berry Cheese Curds
- Tanghulu
- The Blue Moo Lagoon
- The Dirty Dog
- The Wisconsinite Slush
- Tilt-a-Spritz
- Tinga Tango Chicharrones
- Toffee Tumble
- Triple Chocolate Mini Donuts
- Tropical Tide
- Vegan Cheesesteak Eggrolls
- Waffle Cone S’mores
- Why Not Tots
- Wild Grape Dirty Soda
- Wisco Short Rid Corn Dog
- Wisconsin Chocolate Barnyard Float
- Southwestern Chorizo Pasty
In addition, a few new vendors are joining the Wisconsin State Fair. All Family Concessions will be found on the Back Forty. Dale Z’s On Tour will be on Grandstand Avenue and Second Street. Lulu Tanghulu will be in the expo center. And the Yuengling Beer House will be on Central Avenue and Benno’s Micro Alley.
The original cream puff and the chocolate cream puff will be offered at the 2026 Wisconsin State Fair. The new ‘Fair-aschino Cherry Cream Puff’ will be available while supplies last each day. Unlike the original and chocolate puffs, they won’t be available for pre-order.
Some of the new food offerings at the fair are also up for the Sporkies and Drinkies awards. The options up for the awarded are bolded in the list above.
The Wisconsin State Fair runs August 6 through August 16.
Residents can attend the July 16 meeting in Sheboygan or submit written comments by email to NOAA.
Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary has 36 shipwrecks
Discover the history, shipwrecks and impact of the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary, established to protect maritime heritage in Lake Michigan. This video was created by the Wochit AI tool.
Wochit
SHEBOYGAN – Residents can attend or comment on an upcoming meeting of the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary Advisory Council scheduled for July 16 in Sheboygan.
The gathering will take place from 6 to 8 p.m. at the Sheboygan County Museum, 3110 Erie Ave., according to a community announcement. Members of the public are invited to attend and observe discussions.
The agenda includes routine council business, updates from working groups, community reports and briefings from NOAA staff on sanctuary programs, research and upcoming events.
Public can provide comments during meeting
A public comment period is planned for about 7:50 p.m., giving attendees a chance to share feedback directly with council members.
Those unable to attend may submit written comments by email to jean.prevo@noaa.gov, according to the announcement.
Council shares updates on sanctuary programs
NOAA’s Office of National Marine Sanctuaries will provide updates tied to the Wisconsin Shipwreck Coast National Marine Sanctuary, including research initiatives and community engagement efforts.
More information about the council and its activities is available online at sanctuaries.noaa.gov.
This story was created by reporter Nida Tazeen, NTazeen@usatodayco.com , with the assistance of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Journalists were involved in every step of the information gathering, review, editing and publishing process. Learn more at cm.usatoday.com/ethical-conduct.
Wisconsin
A Wisconsin family is suing Target after their 10-month-old died from swallowing a water bead
A Wisconsin family lost their ten-month-old daughter after she swallowed a water bead. They blame Target and the water bead manufacturer for her death.
This week, Taylor and Tyler Bethard filed a lawsuit against Target in Hennepin County, claiming that the company failed to warn them and other customers about the dangers of a water beads product that used to be sold exclusively at Target.
Water beads are marketed as toys that come with sensory kits or craft sets, but data shows the products are prone to injuring young children. The polymer material is extremely absorbent, allowing water beads – which are often colorful – to expand around 100 times their original size when they interact with water or liquid. This presents a hazard for kids; the United States Product Safety Commission states that between 2017 and 2022, there were 6,300 water bead-related ingestion injuries that required treatment from emergency departments across the country.
In 2023, a 10-month-old girl died. Her name is Esther “Jo” Bethard. According to court filings, Taylor Bethard found her daughter unresponsive in her crib on the morning of July 7, 2023, after she had suffered symptoms of a stomach illness overnight. Medical examiners told the family that her death was caused by swallowing a single water bead.
The Bethards had purchased a Chuckle and Roar water bead set in the spring of 2022 for Esther Jo’s older siblings, never intending for the infant to interact with the water beads.
Target and the Chuckle and Roar manufacturer, Buffalo Games LLC, mutually agreed to pull the product from the shelves in November of 2022. Court records show an email exchange between Buffalo Games and a product safety employee at Target where the manufacturer noted that while their water beads had met safety standards at the time, they wanted to “avoid any future unintended misuse of the product.”
That conversation was prompted after Buffalo Games was informed that an infant required surgery after ingesting a water bead from the Ultimate Water Beads kit. Target agreed to end sales, indicating that this would be classified as a “safety removal.”
The Bethard’s lawsuit alleges that Target clearly knew how dangerous these water beads could be, but failed to warn them or other customers. Target stopped selling the product about eight months before Esther Jo died. Daniel Mann, a personal injury attorney representing the Bethards in this case, said that Esther Jo would still be alive if Target had acted.
“With all this information Target didn’t do anything to reach out to the family or other consumers to let them know about this problem,” Mann said, “I think 10/10 people would say Target had a responsibility to do more than what they did, which was nothing.”
A spokesperson for Target said that they would not comment on ongoing litigation, but the company had already responded to an identical complaint filed by the Bethards in the State of New York. In 2025, the Bethards sued both Target and Buffalo Games in Erie County, N.Y., because that was where the manufacturer was based. In response to the lawsuit there, court filings show that Target denied the allegations that they knew of an extraordinary danger posed by the water beads and failed to notify customers.
The complaint was dismissed against Target in New York, Mann explained, due to jurisdiction. This lead to them refiling in Hennepin County this week.
In a statement to WCCO on the new legal action, a Target spokesperson said “We extend our deepest sympathies to those affected by this tragedy, and we worked closely with the manufacturer of the product at the time the incident occurred.”
Taylor Bethard, Esther Jo’s mother, has lead the charge to ban water beads entirely. Her efforts lead to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commision recalling the more than 52,000 Chuckle and Roar Ultimate Water Beads Activity Kits that were in circulation. The recall took effect in September of 2023. Target, Walmart and Amazon announced that they would stop marketing water beads to children.
Bethard is also working with Wisconsin U.S. State Senator Tammy Baldwin to establish federal legislation to permanently outlaw all water beads. This past spring, the CPSC established new legal guidelines that restrict the size of water beads to try to ensure high safety standards.
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