Wisconsin’s playoff hopes are dashed, their chances to win the Big Ten West necessitate they win their remaining schedule and injuries to key defensemen have weakened the team’s biggest asset. But Saturday at Camp Randall, Rutgers was in town. At 1-7 overall, the New Jersey university is simply not a good football team.
As such, Saturday was an opportunity to savor the present, to forget the empty feeling of leaving Evanston winless, to play like the elite program Wisconsin was deemed at the season’s onset.
To fit that mold, Wisconsin would need to make way for running back Jonathan Taylor, they would need to convert third downs regularly and pressure the quarterback early and often.