The Wisconsin Badgers suffered a tough 24-10 loss against the Ohio State Buckeyes on Saturday, fighting hard on both sides until the fourth quarter, but ultimately falling short without enough offensive firepower in the defeat.
It was even tougher for the Badgers when considering their injury issues, as running back Braelon Allen and wide receiver Chimere Dike both suffered lower body injuries that limited them severely in the second half.
Allen played just 25 snaps, injuring his left leg on the final offensive play of the first half, getting hurt on a pitch at the Ohio State 1-yard line.
Following the play, the running back had to helped up by two trainers and gingerly walked off the field, and was next seen in a walking boot during the second half.
After the game, head coach Luke Fickell didn’t have any injury update on his running back, and shared that his decision to kick the field goal over a touchdown wasn’t dependent on Allen’s health in that situation.
“I don’t have an update,” Fickell said about his running back. “No, I didn’t even know, to be honest with you, whether he was down for a while or would he be able to get back up and play the next play.”
“We made the decision or I made the decision in my head that we needed to get points. I put us in a bad situation, didn’t call a timeout, then we ended up with a field goal we probably don’t want to attempt at 54 yards.”
Running back Jackson Acker clarified that it was likely an ankle sprain for Allen postgame, sharing his belief that the starter won’t be out there for too long, however; next week’s status is still up in the air.
“Yeah, I spoke with him briefly,” Acker said about Allen. “I don’t want to speak for him and I don’t have all the details, but, yeah, I don’t think he’s going to be out for too long. But, yeah, I don’t know if he’ll be back by next week.”
Elsewhere, the Badgers also lost wide receiver Chimere Dike to a right leg injury, which appeared to happen at the end of his 35-yard punt return that gave Wisconsin the ball at Ohio State’s 36-yard line back in the first quarter.
Dike’s injury looked more promising, as the Badgers wide receiver was seen jogging on the sidelines in the second half, and even in the huddle at times offensively, but he never returned to the game, with backup Vinny Anthony filling in.
Fickell didn’t have much of an update on Dike either, but pointed to some of the younger guys to step up if the injury does linger for a bit, as well as top wideout Bryson Green.
“I don’t know,” Fickell said about Dike’s status. “I didn’t get an update on him. Go check on that here. So I don’t know. Those guys had to step up. I don’t know exactly. I don’t know if Quincy (Burroughs) got a little bit more of a role obviously. Bryson (Green) probably, you saw him a little bit, targeted a little bit more, which we need to do.”
“There’s going to be other opportunities for other guys. C.J. Williams is going to have to step up, Quincy Burroughs, Vinny Anthony. There’s going to have to be a lot of other guys based on where we are.”
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