Northwestern, the Big Ten's smartest school, lost to Wisconsin in the silliest possible way

This is an ugly safety to take.

The Big Ten’s smartest school lost a chance at an upset because of a somewhat astounding mental error on Saturday.

No. 10 Wisconsin beat Northwestern, 33-24. The Badgers were probably going to win anyway, but Northwestern QB Clayton Thorson took this really ugly safety on the Wildcats’ last drive, sealing their defeat:

Thorson was well out of the pocket and saw a tackler coming at him. He could’ve just thrown the ball away without an intentional grounding penalty, and NU would’ve retained some chance to win. But this is college football, and sometimes the human beings playing it make mistakes. This was a rough one, and Thorson knows it:

Wisconsin had a dominant third quarter and early part of the fourth, building up a 31-10 lead after trailing at halftime. Northwestern scored a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns to make things at least interesting before Thorson got safetied.

The Badgers looked off kilter throughout the first half and trailed 10-7 at the break.

Jazz Peavy fumbled on their first offensive snap, and they nearly lost a fumble on the kickoff that ensued after the resulting Northwestern field goal. Quarterback Alex Hornibrook threw two ugly interceptions that more or less resembled punts with his left arm. Hornibrook also appeared to fumble in the last minute of the half, but he was ruled down on the field and a video review didn’t turn the ball over to Northwestern.

NU led at halftime, 10-7, before its afternoon turned for the worst.

Wisconsin has appeared to be the clear best team in the Big Ten West, which means the Badgers’ path to the College Football Playoff is pretty clear. (They’re in SB Nation’s most recent top-four projection.) If UW can get through the regular season with one loss or fewer and win the Big Ten title game, it’ll be in great shape.