Braedyn Locke taking accountability as Badgers’ offense crumbles

IOWA CITY, Ia. — The Badgers are currently in a downward spiral after losing two-straight games, and a lot of the blame is going towards the offense, especially their quarterback.

Braedyn Locke is doing his best to replace Tyler Van Dyke, but he’s coming off his worst performance of the season after Wisconsin’s 42-10 road loss to Iowa. After all, Locke completed less than half of his passes, threw two interceptions, and the Badgers didn’t score a touchdown until the fourth quarter, when the game was already out of reach.

Now the signal-caller has thrown an interception in every game he started this season, including multiple in two battles in Big Ten play. Which is why Locke is taking the embarrassing loss as a wake up call to be a leader for his teammates during this time of adversity.

“It’s hard to pinpoint anything, I know personally I gotta be better, but I’ll watch the film,” Locke said. “I haven’t seen anything yet, so it’s hard to give an answer.”

Fans are questioning Phil Longo’s play-calling, as well as a lethargic rushing attack, due to poor blocking from the big boys up front. It’s no mystery that the offense currently has no identity, and Longo’s Air Raid is struggling in the Big Ten. The Hawkeyes were relentless on Locke defensively, and the sold out crowd made it a house of nails for the rest of the offense.

“I think they pressured us a little bit more than what their average would’ve been going into the game, and they traveled their speed with our speed, even on base downs,” he said. “The environment was tough, they had a great crowd and they thrived off that, so we gotta do a better job of handling that.”

Wisconsin (5-4) only produced 261 yards of total offense, which was a season-low. It was also the program’s worst loss at Kinnick Stadium since 1968. The offensive output was a head-scratcher, considering Locke led the Badgers on a 12-play, 59-yard scoring drive on their opening possession. Everything went downhill from there, and Wisconsin was scoreless in the second and third quarter. A season-high worth of penalties made matters worse.

At the end of the day, the Badgers are still searching for bowl eligibility, and need some leaders to emerge alongside Locke to get the team through this rough spot. Locke understands that’s easier said than done, but is embracing the challenge and wants to be responsible.

“You have to find a way to go back to work, and understand that there’s still very important games left on the schedule, but it’s hard to really get your mind there right now,” the 20-year old said.

Now Wisconsin has a bye-week, and Coach Luke Fickell must utilize it, with a home clash against No. 1 Oregon looming in week 12. So it’s going to be up to Locke and the veterans on the team to rally the troops, and keep them motivated during the time off. Still, he’s somewhat frustrated approaching this week because of the timing, and it’s November when teams are usually playing their best football.

Locke needs to continue building chemistry with his receivers, polishing his footwork in the pocket, working through his progressions and stay fearless with his mobility. The bye-week should also help him with some wrinkles in the playbook, film study and soul-searching.

“I think there’s some good and some bad, and the good is you get two weeks to prepare for a good opponent, but the bad is that you sit with this stinging feeling from back-to-back loses for two weeks.”