Wisconsin’s win over USC answered one big question and left another hanging in the air.
The Badgers knocked off the No. 16 Trojans 24-7 in Madison, and they did it despite producing only 200 yards of offense.
That result looks a lot different when you put it next to the 17-7 loss to UCLA a week earlier, a game in which Wisconsin managed just seven points. Seven games into the season, the picture is clearer than it was a few weeks ago, but it still isn’t fully formed.
What jumped out first was the defense. USC entered the game averaging more than 36 points per contest, and Wisconsin held the Trojans to seven.
The Badgers allowed 239 total yards, collected five sacks and picked off two passes. USC finished with minus-17 rushing yards, a number that barely ever shows up against anyone.
The season-long numbers say that wasn’t a one-night fluke. Wisconsin is allowing 15.3 points and 279.9 yards per game, and five of its seven opponents have been limited to 20 points or fewer.
That doesn’t mean every Saturday will look like USC, but it does mean this defense can carry its weight. If it keeps playing like this, Wisconsin won’t need the offense to do much more than it did against the Trojans in some games.
The offense, though, still has something to prove.
The final score looked clean, but the production was not. Wisconsin finished with 200 total yards and only 58 through the air.
Colton Joseph completed 12 of 14 passes and avoided costly mistakes, but there wasn’t much downfield explosion. That becomes a concern when the defense isn’t completely shutting the other side down.
Joseph has shown more in other games this season. He threw for 362 yards against Eastern Michigan and 235 against Penn State, so the passing game clearly has a higher ceiling than it showed against USC.
Still, one solid outing doesn’t erase the bigger questions. The Badgers need a stretch of productive offensive football before anyone can say the problems are gone.
At the same time, Wisconsin doesn’t need Joseph to air it out every week. Against USC, the Badgers ran the ball 43 times, threw it 14 times and held possession for more than 32 minutes.
Abu Sama III rushed for 71 yards, Joseph added 32, and Wisconsin asked its quarterback mainly to protect the ball and keep the offense on schedule. That formula mattered in the win.
Joseph has 1,256 passing yards with 11 touchdowns and five interceptions this season. There will be weeks when Wisconsin needs more from him, but this offense does not have to be built around 35 or 40 throws a game if the defense keeps playing at this level.
That’s why the USC win is impressive without being definitive. It came right after the Badgers stumbled at UCLA and scored only seven points. It’s hard to declare a full turnaround after one game.
There’s also the Iowa piece. Wisconsin has lost four straight to the Hawkeyes, including a 37-0 shutout last season, and Luke Fickell is still searching for his first win over Iowa since arriving in Madison.
The Badgers now own two ranked wins, over Penn State and USC, and sit at 3-1 in the Big Ten and 5-2 overall. That’s a solid place to be through seven games, especially considering how ugly things looked after the UCLA loss.
But a trip to Kinnick would tell us a lot more. Win there, and Wisconsin’s direction becomes a lot easier to buy.
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