A week after leading an impressive 36-28 victory over Notre Dame, O’Connor lingered on being the calm, collected replacement to Connor Cook. On Saturday O’Connor threw three interceptions, all ill-timed decisions.

“I made some poor decisions in some critical parts of the game,” O’Connor said. “But at the same time give credit to Wisconsin I thought they put together a really good game plan.”

MSU limped to a 30-6 defeat at the hands of the Badgers largely behind a stagnant offense. Close for one-half on Saturday, MSU had its chances but were stifled by a pressure-happy Badger defense.

“They threw some blitzes at us that maybe we weren’t ready for,” O’Connor said. “Also it’s on me to get the ball out in time and put the ball in a good spot and not make a bad play worse for us.”

Sending waves of blitzes, the Badgers were able to hurry O'Connor into poor and quick decisions. Often times he missed open receivers on reads and tried to fit balls into closing windows.

But even on tough pressures, the soft zone is opened in the defense. He had trouble finding it as well, never really going to a safety valve in the flat or finding a man in space.

“I’ve never really seen that kind of pressure coming at me,” O’Connor said. “There’s a lot to learn from, there’s a lot of opportunities I think that I’ll see where we can maybe get us into different plays or different protections.”

Interceptions can be a forgivable, regular part of the game, but they hurt when they’re deep in a team’s territory and result in opponents’ points plays later.

“I think he was put in some tough situations - had some pressure on him,” Offensive Coordinator Dave Warner said. “I think he needs to handle the pressure better. He threw off of his back foot a couple times and got the ball picked. I'm sure he's going to be hard on himself and wish that he had played better, as well.”

Dropping back in the second quarter, the pocket collapsing around him, a guy lunging at his feet and another unguarded heading for his torso, O’Connor tried to zip a ball to Jamal Lyles on a hitch route.

“I have to put the ball in a safer spot,” O’Connor said. “Poorly thrown I think, a stupid mistake.”

The third-and-six drive-saving attempt was jumped by Wisconsin’s Sojourn Shelton. Six plays later the Badgers jumped out to a 13-6 lead.

With the game nearly out of reach in the middle of the fourth quarter and inside Wisconsin territory, O’Connor again tried to make a play only for the ball to land in Wisconsin’s Derrick Tindal’s hands.

Wisconsin’s secondary as well provided press coverage that blanketed receivers. It was a combination of tough press coverage and man-to-man coverage that prevented easy getaways for Spartan receivers.

O’Connor, however, will not have to worry about job security, as head coach Mark Dantonio is still backing his quarterback.

“I don't think that all of the sudden we say because these things happen we go against that,” Dantonio said when asked if O’Connor was now in a quarterback battle.

After four years spent learning the offense, he’s played sparingly and only once against a top flight team in Ohio State. His passes in Columbus were limited with ugly weather forcing MSU and Ohio State into a ground attack game that neither could break wide open.

He wasn’t forced to make throws. He never trailed by more than seven in Columbus, never having to lead a comeback as daunting as the one he attempted against the Badgers.

Yet he put the blame on himself for misreads and miscues. The offense lacked consistency — a large component in creating a quarterback’s rhythm. But MSU squandered chances with penalties and sacks.

“He did make some throws did do some things,” Dantonio said. “But every time it just sort of ended up empty.”

Despite the interceptions, O’Connor mustered an 18-of-38 performance for 224 yards still hitting throws downfield including a 40-yard completion to Corley. But there’s work to be done for O’Connor.

He’s shown flashes and he’ll have nine more games to prove today was out of the ordinary.