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Former Wisconsin tight end gets revenge on Badgers as Indiana Hoosiers pull away

The Wisconsin Badgers played the Indiana Hoosiers close for the first three and a half quarters on Saturday, but it was a former Badgers player who put the nail in the coffin for Indiana.
Lorin Cox|
Nov 1, 2025; College Park, Maryland, USA; Indiana Hoosiers wide receiver Jonathan Brady (0) celebrates with former Wisconsin Badgers tight end Riley Nowakowski (37) after scoring a touchdown
Nov 1, 2025; College Park, Maryland, USA; Indiana Hoosiers wide receiver Jonathan Brady (0) celebrates with former Wisconsin Badgers tight end Riley Nowakowski (37) after scoring a touchdown | Tommy Gilligan-Imagn Images

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The Wisconsin Badgers played the Indiana Hoosiers close for the first three and a half quarters on Saturday, but it was a former Badgers player who put the nail in the coffin for Indiana.

Tight end Riley Nowakowski hasn't said anything publicly about having hard feelings for Wisconsin, but he made some big plays to help the Hoosiers pull away in the second half.

He committed to the Badgers out of high school as an in-state recruit, a three-star running back out of Milwaukee.

Nowakowski didn't play much through his first few seasons, occasionally appearing as a fullback before making the transition to tight end and becoming a starter for the 2024 season.

He entered the transfer portal last December and made the jump to Indiana and became the No. 1 TE in their high-scoring offense.

That role was apparent as his former team came to town Saturday.

He scored a 21-yard touchdown in the third quarter that extended the Hoosiers' lead to 24-7, running over safety Austin Brown and breaking free from linebacker Mason Posa on his way to the endzone.

That came after Nowakowski ripped of a 37-yard screen pass that saw him break multiple Badgers tackles to set up a field goal with less than a minute in the half.

His big plays were killers to a Wisconsin team that had very little margin of error against the No. 2 team in the country.

The sliver lining for Luke Fickell is that his tight end replacement for Nowakowski, Missouri State transfer Lance Mason, had a huge 45-yard touchdown of his own on a 4th and 1 play action pass that kept the Badgers right in the mix.

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Lorin Cox
LORIN COX

Lorin Cox is the managing editor of Wisconsin Badgers on SI. He has been covering Badgers sports since 2014, when he was an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin. He previously wrote for the Wisconsin State Journal, NBC Sports Chicago and USA Today Sports Media Group, and he is a former analyst for Pro Football Focus.

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