Luke Fickell credits Washington State for outplaying Wisconsin in Week 2

Luke Fickell gave a lot of credit to Washington State following Wisconsin’s first loss of the season. The loss dropped the Badgers from the top 25 in the AP Poll and left Fickell reflecting.

Wisconsin dropped its game 31-22 after trailing 24-9 at halftime. While it was a valiant effort to mount a potential comeback, it wasn’t enough.

Fickell gave all the credit to the Cougars.

“I gotta give them a lot of credit,” Fickell said of Washington State. “I mean that’s a good football team that came to play tonight and you know told our guys in the locker room afterwards that they outplayed us and now I don’t know what more you can say about it.

“I thought we came out the second half, we found out a little bit more about ourselves, we obviously did not play very well in the first half in a lot of situations, complimentary football was not a strong suit in the first half. The second half we came out, I thought we played complimentary football, offense, defense, special teams did some things really well, but you know, we’ve got to find a way to finish.”

Washington State quarterback Cameron Ward has his way with throwing and running the football Saturday. He went 20-of-32 passing for 212 yards, two touchdowns and ran 17 times for 43 yards.

With Wisconsin turning the ball over, it was tough to combat the dangerous Ward, according to Fickell.

“And you go on the road and you end up 0-3, three turnovers … it’s going to be really difficult to overcome, especially when you’re playing a really good football team with a quarterback that, you know, is a really talented football player,” Fickell said.

“So it’s things, it’s really difficult. It’s really tough. You know, those guys are hurting, they’ve worked extremely hard and they have incredible expectations. But you know, that’s why you play the game.”

The run game didn’t exactly get going for the Badgers. Chez Mellusi had 12 carries for 49 yards and a score while Braelon Allen was bottled up for 20 yards on seven carries.

Tanner Mordecai did what he could for Fickell and Wisconsin. He went 25-of-40 passing for 278 yards and a touchdown.

Tanner Mordecai did what he could for Fickell and Wisconsin. He went 25-of-40 passing for 278 yards and a touchdown.

Wisconsin returns home after the west coast road trip Saturday. The Badgers play host this coming Saturday at 12:00 p.m. ET against Georgia Southern.