What Wisconsin coach Paul Chryst said about his team's loss to Penn State
A 5.5-point underdog by kickoff according to some sportsbooks, Penn State Nittany Lions football pulled off an incredible victory over the Wisconsin Badgers on Saturday.
Despite securing just one first down in the first half in what began as a defensive battle, the Nittany Lions managed to leave Madison with a 16-10, statement making win.
Here are three main takeaways from what Badgers head coach Paul Chryst said about his team's defeat to the Nittany Lions.
1. Big plays prove costly
Chryst was generally complimentary of the job his defense — and specifically cornerback Faion Hicks — did against Jahan Dotson and some of Penn State's other weapons on the outside.
Dotson had a quiet first half, but he made big plays in the second 30 minutes, and those ultimately proved extremely costly to the Badgers in a one-score game.
Dotson finished with five receptions for 102 yards and a score on 11 targets. KeAndre Lambert-Smith proved to be nearly an equally problematic big play threat for the Badgers to deal with.
He finished his day with four receptions for 71 yards — including one 52-yarder.
"I thought big picture our defense played really well," Chryst said. "But there was some big plays in the passing game. On third and long, they got a seam coming out of the second half. I don't know exactly what happened there, but those are the areas we got to clean up."
2. Late-game decisions
The Badgers fourth-quarter was a rollercoaster, especially on offense.
Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz threw an interception to Jaquan Brisker on fourth-and-goal with 2:16 remaining with the Badgers down six points.
The Nittany Lions suffered a quick three-and-out on offense thereafter, giving the Badgers another shot.
They marched down the field to the Penn State 32 yard-line, where Mertz threw another interception out of desperation on the game's final play.
Chryst was asked if he thought about kicking a field goal on the first of those drives, considering, in hindsight, the math may have worked out for the Badgers to tie the game with two FGs.
Ultimately, Chryst said, he felt the trip inside Penn State's 10-yard line was the time to push all the chips into the center of the table.
"You could of thought this might be our chance," he said. "We had a little bit of time to think through it, and we went all in on, 'this is the drive,' and then obviously we didn't finish it."
3. Red Zone execution doesn't cut it
The Badgers made four trips to the Red Zone on Saturday and came away without points three times.
It was strongly reminiscent of the offensive problems the Nittany Lions dealt with last season — especially when you add in the three turnovers — as they consistently out-gained teams from a yardage perspective but couldn't turn that advantage into points.
Postgame, Chryst lamented his team's inability to execute in the most important area of the field.
"Bottom line is, I thought we had a lot of guys across the board do enough to give us a chance," he said. "We've got to find ways to finish. Certainly, we had a number of opportunities in the Red Zone.
"Twice we were inside the five and we've got our goal line package. We jump offsides once, then we had a missed exchange."
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