Luke Fickell assesses Wisconsin's 14-0 lead over Rutgers at halftime

It was a sloppy first half for Luke Fickell’s Wisconsin squad and certainly for Greg Schiano and Rutgers, but the Badgers led 14-0 at the break.

Fickell complimented his defense in the first half. The Badgers allowed zero points and didn’t allow the Scarlet Knights to get into any sort of rhythm.

If it keeps up, Wisconsin should cruise. But as Fickell pointed out, they can’t keep their foot off the gas.

“They’ve done a good job of keeping the ball in front of them and eliminate some of the run game,” Fickell said to Brooke Fletcher on BTN. “They’ve dropped some balls too, so they’ve helped us out a little bit. That’s not going to happen in the second half. We got to be a heck of a lot better than we were here at the finale of this last minute and a half or something. We got to come back out the second half and play a lot of ball.”

Luke Fickell, Wisconsin lead Rutgers 14-0 at halftime

The offense had some moments, but Wisconsin turned the ball over twice. However, they managed to force Rutgers into mistakes and ended up blocking a field goal near the end of the half.

“We got to be physical up front. It’s got to start up front,” Fickell said. “We got to continue to get back to controlling the line of scrimmage, and quit worrying about the all the big plays the things down the field and get back to who we are.”

Braedyn Locke was 12-of-18 passing for 132 yards, one touchdown and one interception through 30 minutes. Tawee Walker led the way on the ground with 18 carries for 93 yards and a score.

Will Pauling, who was injured in the first half, had four catches for 46 yards and a touchdown to lead the way.

On the flip side, Athan Kaliakmanis was seven-of-20 passing for 69 yards and was actually the leading rusher with 22 yards.

Last year’s Big Ten rushing champion Kyle Monangai was bottled up for 22 yards on 11 carries in the first half.