EVANSTON-Despite four straight losses, Northwestern seemingly had quite a bit to play for on a sun-splashed fall Saturday against Wisconsin at Ryan Field. As bad as they played over the last month, the Wildcats were still 1-1 in the Big Ten and had a West division rival in town for Homecoming, in front of by far their largest crowd of the season.

You wouldn’t have guessed it by the way they looked. The Wildcats played listless, uninspired football and got embarrassed in a 42-7 loss to a Wisconsin team that just fired its head coach and had yet to beat a Power Five opponent.

Head coach Pat Fitzgerald’s team is in a tailspin, losing five straight games this season and 11 of 12 dating to last year. After losing their first four games by 10 points or fewer this year, the Wildcats got manhandled from the opening whistle by the Badgers.

Northwestern is now 0-4 at Ryan Field and will be on the road for four of their last six games. Mercifully, the Wildcats have a bye next week.

The much-maligned Wisconsin offense that cost Paul Chryst his job last Sunday looked dominant against a Northwestern defense that appeared slow and confused, and missed a boatload of tackles.

The Badgers, who were limited to 208 total yards in a loss to Illinois last week, surpassed that total by the midway point of the second quarter. By halftime, Wisconsin had 350 yards and a 28-0 lead and it was time for Northwestern’s alumni to head back out to the parking lot to resume their drinking.

How bad was it for the Wildcats? After the offense spent most of the first 25-plus minutes struggling to generate anything resembling a drive, they finally got a big play in the waning minutes of the half when Evan Hull broke loose for a 45-yard run to the Wisconsin 13-yard line. Northwestern picked up a fourth-down conversion and got to the 4.

Even though his team was trailing 28-0, Fitzgerald opted for a chip-shot field goal to get some points on the board before the half. That decision backfired when Jack Olsen, on his first kick of the year, badly missed the 21-yard attempt.

It was a fitting end to a horrific half. It wouldn’t get much better in a second half that was mostly perfunctory.

Northwestern quarterback Ryan Hilinski had another ugly outing, finishing 10 of 22 passing for 147 yards and two interceptions. He was pulled for the third series, which, Fitzgerald said, was his pregame plan. Hikinski was then reinserted after backup Brendan Sullivan led back-to-back three-and-outs.

To add injury to insult, Hilinski was hurt after Kamoi Latu picked him off for the second time at the Wisconsin 3 on NU’s first drive of the second half. Hilinski got cut-block on the return and had to be helped off the field. He is now in the concussion protocol, according to Fitzgerald.

Sullivan, in his first action of the season, was marginally better than Hilinski. He went 11 for 17 passing for 114 yards, with one touchdown and one fumble. He looked shaky on his first two possessions, but settled in once he got reps in the third quarter. He had one spectacular highlight, when he hooked up on a 41-yard throw to Bryce Kirtz, who made an impressive over-the-shoulder catch at the Wisconsin 6.

That led to Northwestern’s lone score of the game on a one-yard Sullivan pass to Anthony Tyus III. Unfortunately, that made the score 35-7 in the fourth quarter. Wisconsin then tacked on one more TD.

Wisconsin quarterback Graham Mertz, who has struggled throughout his career and came into the game ranked 11th in the Big Ten passing, looked like Aaron Rodgers for most of the game. He finished 20 of 29 for 299 yards and five touchdowns. His favorite target was wide receiver Chimere Dike, who had 10 catches for 185 yards and three touchdowns.

Running back Braelon Allen, coming off of an eight-carry, two-yard performance last week, had 135 yards rushing. In an indicator of what kind of game it was, he also threw a touchdown pass, when he rolled to the right out of a wildcat formation on third-and-2 and hit an open Chez Mellusi for a 23-yard score to make it 28-0 in the second quarter.

Wisconsin’s offense established its dominance early in this one. The Badgers went 66 yards on their first drive, but the Cats dodged a bullet when Nate Van Zelst’s 35-yard field goal attempt hooked badly in a strong crosswind and went wide left.

Northwestern wasn’t as lucky on the next drive, however. After Luke Akers’ 47-yard punt pinned the Badgers at their own 2, Wisconsin marched 98 yards in nine plays, capped by Graham Mertz’s 15-yard touchdown pass to Skyler Bell, who was wide open on a post after a blown coverage in the secondary.

Hilinski added some gasoline to Wisconsin’s fire when he threw late and over the middle, and his pass was picked off by Latu at Wisconsin 43. Three plays later, on the first snap of the second quarter, Mertz hit Dike on a crossing route and he took it down the sideline for a 52-yard TD and a 14-0 lead.

Mertz got one more scoring strike before halftime when he scrambled out of the pocket and lofted a 21-yard TD pass to Dike for a 21-0 lead with 6:58 to go in the second. Allen then threw his TD pass to make it 28-0 with 2:11 left, and the rout was on.