EVANSTON-Northwestern’s game against Wisconsin on Saturday at Martin Stadium followed what has become a very familiar script.

The defense played well enough to keep the Wildcats in the game, but the offense missed some opportunities for points early and shot itself in the foot time and again as the Badgers emerged with an easy 23-3 win that was helped in part by a couple curious first-half decision by the Wildcats.

It was the third straight win for the Badgers, a team on the rise at 5-2 (3-1 Big Ten). Northwestern, meanwhile, was dealt a serious blow to its bowl hopes.

The Wildcats dropped to 3-4 (1-3) and must find a way to eke out three wins across the final five games of the season in a schedule that includes Iowa, Michigan, Ohio State and Illinois. Only 1-6 Purdue at this point that looks like anything close to a likely win for the Wildcats.

Northwestern’s beleaguered offense managed just 209 total yards. Quarterback Jack Lausch struggled in particular, completing just 9-of-24 throws for 82 yards. He also had a fumble and was sacked for a safety. On third down, which has been an issue all season, the Wildcats converted just 2-of-14 chances – though they did finish 2-for-2 on fourth downs.

Wisconsin QB Braedyn Locke was far from surgical – he wound up 14-for-24 for 160 yards, with one touchdown and one interception. But with 126 rushing yards from Tawee Walker, it was more than enough to put this one away.

The Wildcat defense wasn’t dominant, but they came up with two takeaways and held the Badgers to 3-of-11 on third downs and 359 total yards, almost 200 fewer than they had last week at Rutgers.

The defense’s performance might even have been enough for victory in a world where Northwestern had a semblance of an offense that could move the chains and score more than a field goal. That just wasn’t the case.

The first half harkened back to the days of the old Big Ten West. Or maybe the 1930s, when the wing-T was in vogue. It featured seven punts, two blocked field goals, a blocked punt, an interception and a fumble.

But the Badgers went into halftime with a 14-0 lead thanks to a devastating turn of events late in the first half. The Wildcats took over on their own 1-yard line with 1:04 left in the second quarter. At that point, with the offense sputtering, Northwestern figured to run the ball, kill the clock and go into the locker room trailing just 7-0.

But the Wildcats got a first down at the 13 and got greedy. Lausch dropped back to pass, was sacked by John Pius and fumbled. The ball was recovered by Wisconsin’s Elijah Pitts at the NU 3-yard line. Cade Yacamelli scored on the Badgers’ first play with 39 seconds left in the half and the Badgers had a two-score lead that looked just about insurmountable for a Wildcat offense that generated just 139 yards in the first half.

It was the second straight week an ill-advised pass deep in their own territory at the end of a half cost the Wildcats dearly. They dodged a bullet when Maryland missed a field goal the week before, but this time, the Badgers’ shot hit them right in the chest.

The call to throw the ball at all was curious, and it was only exacerbated by Northwestern’s ineptitude in the passing game. Lausch had completed just 4-of-14 passes for 54 yards to that point and looked inaccurate and erratic in the pocket.

Head coach David Braun said that Wisconsin was “a different scenario in terms of timeouts that were left,” which fed into the decision to try and air it out. “We felt we had the opportunity to get in rhythm and get in field-goal range.”

That was not the only questionable decision of the half for Northwestern. In the first quarter, the defense came up with a stop to force Wisconsin to punt from its own end zone. Bryce Kirtz got a big 23-yard return to give the Wildcats the ball at the Wisconsin 42.

The offense reached the 34 when, facing a fourth-and-2, Braun opted for a Luke Akers 51-yard field goal attempt that fell well short of the crossbar. Braun not only didn’t have confidence in his offense to pick up two yards, but he called on Akers, a punter subbing for injured placekicker Jack Olsen, to attempt a long kick that didn’t have much of a shot of going through the uprights.

Braun was “confident that was the right decision” to try the field goal. He did, however, say he should have checked on Akers "from a mental standpoint" after he got hit when Wisconsin blocked a punt earlier in the game.

Of course, Akers had a chip-shot 27-yard try blocked in the second quarter, too, so nothing can be considered automatic.

Northwestern’s offense finally put a scoring drive together in the third quarter, driving from their own 33 to the Wisconsin 8, thanks to two fourth-down conversions on a Cam Porter run and a Lausch keeper. But a costly false start on Thomas Gordon pushed the Wildcats back and, after a Lausch incompletion on third down, Akers came on to kick a 26-yard field goal to make it 14-3.

But Wisconsin responded with a 3-yard Locke-to-Tucker Ashcraft touchdown pass, and the Badgers had a 21-3 lead with 11 seconds left in the third quarter.

To add insult to injury, Wisconsin added a safety early in the fourth quarter when Lausch, failing to feel the pocket collapsing quickly around him, was overwhelmed and sacked in the end zone. That turned out to be the final points of the game.