All Badgers

Wisconsin vs. Washington State: Game notes and player reactions

Postgame notes and quotes from Wisconsin's three-point loss to Washington State on Saturday afternoon.

Matt Belz

In this story:

The Wisconsin Badgers dropped their first game of the 2022 season on Saturday to Washington State. The No. 19 Badgers were sloppy on offense and had several special teams errors that resulted in a three-point home loss. 

Game recaps:

After the game, All Badgers had the chance to hear from head coach Paul Chryst and several players in postgame availability. 

Here are the postgame notes and quotes from Saturday's tough loss to Washington State.

Game Notes

  • Wisconsin entered the game as a 17-point favorite. The loss is the third under Paul Chryst in which the Badgers were that heavy of favorites or more. 
  • The Badgers had 11 penalties against Washington State. That is the most since 2018 versus Purdue, and most since 2008 in a non-overtime game. Six of the penalties were called on the Wisconsin offensive line, while nine in total were made by the offense. 
  • Wisconsin is now 2-1 versus Washington State, and the Badgers are 1-2 dating back to 2019 against Pac-12 opponents. 
  • Wisconsin has lost a non-conference game in three of the past five seasons under Paul Chryst.
  • The Badgers are now 5-18 when trailing entering the fourth quarter under Paul Chryst, and have lost seven games while leading at halftime.
  • Wisconsin had more than double the amount of first downs and third down conversions compared to Washington State. They also had more than double the number of penalties on the day.
  • Wisconsin held Washington State to only 53 rushing yards on 22 attempts. 
  • Eight different players caught a pass for Wisconsin, all recording at least 10 yards receiving. Six players had at least two receptions. 
  • After holding a halftime lead, the Badgers failed to score in the second half. 
  • Vito Calvaruso missed both of his field goal attempts during the game and he is now 1-of-3 on the season.
  • Braelon Allen did not rush for over 100 yards in a game with more than 10 carries for only the second time in his career. The only other time came in a loss last year versus Minnesota. 
  • Nick Herbig had another sack versus Washington State. He is now up to three in the first two games. 
  • Safety John Torchio and linebacker Maema Njongmeta each had a team-high eight tackles for Wisconsin.
  • Wisconsin had two interceptions on the day with Max Lofy and Jay Shaw both coming down with picks.

Player Reactions

  • Senior safety John Torchio

"I think we need to tackle better as a defense. I mean, we have to be detailed in every aspect. Yeah, we gave up seventeen points, but we lost."

  • Junior outside linebacker Nick Herbig

"I thought we had a great plan. You know, I thought Coach Leonhad did a great job of putting us in good positions. I mean at times they were going quick, but I mean we were making big plays, I thought we were playing well, but unfortunately, at the end of the day, they came out on top."

"Anytime you lose a football game it sucks man. You know, that's all I care about is winning. I could care less about the stats or who does what for this team. All I care about is at the end of the day the Badgers win. So, you know, just walking out of the stadium and losing, it's heartbreaking for sure."

  • Sophomore wide receiver Keontez Lewis

"It's college football, stuff happens. Stuff that you don't want to happen. So, I feel like we clean those things up, all the little mental errors, whatever we had, clean those things up, and we're going to come back weeks after that and be even better as a football team."

  • Senior offensive guard Tyler Beach

"We're upset that we lost right. We are upset, I think that's obvious. But, I think everybody's got the right mindset that we got to be so much better than we were today. We're going to carry that into the next couple weeks as a group, the whole team."

  • Junior tight end Clay Cundiff

"Definitely is frustrating. Disappointed in myself. I felt like I let the team down, the coaches down. You know, ball security is that's a huge deal here. We practice it every day and so, slipping up like that it really hurts."

  • Junior quarterback Graham Mertz

“Just a bunch of controllable stuff, that we will go back and see, that will definitely sting more tomorrow, but a lot of stuff to learn from, for a lot of groups today.”

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Matt Belz
MATT BELZ

Title: Publisher, Beat Writer for AllBadgers.com, a Sports Illustrated Channel Hello, my name is Matt Belz, and I am the site manager at All Badgers. I previously wrote for multiple years at Buckeyes 5th Quarter and have been the leading publisher here since March of 2022.  When I am not covering the Wisconsin Badgers football and men's basketball teams, I enjoy being outside and spending time with family and friends.  You can follow everything I write about on several different platforms. First and foremost on our site...AllBadgers.com You can follow me personally on Twitter at @savedbythebelz or check out our Facebook page at Wisconsin FanNation on Sports Illustrated.

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