SB Nation - Philip Welch

Replay and React: The good and bad from Saturday's win

Jbharris87 — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 02:41:24 -0000

about 1 month ago: Wisconsin running back John Clay runs past Purdue linebacker Chris Carlino during the first half of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009, in Madison, Wis. Clay had 123-yards in Wisconsin's 37-0 win. (AP Photo/Andy Manis)

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Talk about making a statement. Wisconsin rebounded from two tough losses against elite Big Ten teams by posting its first shutout in three years. The Badgers' 37-0 victory over Purdue Saturday was nothing short of dominant. Give Bret Bielema and his coaching staff credit for pushing the right buttons. The team looked hungry from kickoff onward, setting the tone early with an 80-yard touchdown drive and preserving the shutout late by refusing to surrender a point. This was the kind of game the Badgers of last year may have dropped or struggled to win. The inspired play Saturday, particularly from the underclassmen, reinforced the belief that there is still a lot at stake this season, and generated justifiable excitement about the future of the program.

Purdue, like many teams in the Big Ten this season, has been tough to figure. Still, it is safe to say the Boilermakers are good enough that beating them 37-0 is impressive. They are the only team in the conference that has defeated Ohio State. And they only lost by two points to an Oregon team that is perfect in Pac-10 play because of a missed extra point. Purdue had scored at least 20 points in each of its first eight games before playing the Badgers. Most importantly, this was a hot team, one that came into Madison fresh off of two Big Ten victories.

Many of us had been waiting for a Bielema-coached team to put together a truly complete game. The Badgers' first five victories of the season all ended up closer than they needed to be. Throughout Bielema's tenure at Wisconsin, the team has gotten off to its share of slow starts in games and has put its fans through plenty of well-documented collapses. On display Saturday were 60 quality minutes of football. It is an encouraging sign for a young team that has every reason to believe it can win its remaining four games, finish 10-2 and play in a very respectable bowl game.

Let's take a look at Saturday's highlights:

The Good

Running game - The Badgers piled up yardage on the ground. John Clay ran for 123 yards and three touchdowns and, once again, the team took full advantage of the end-around. Tight end Lance Kendricks accumulated 91 yards on the ground on such plays, including a 54-yard scamper down the sideline. Overall, the Badgers ran for 266 yards on an impressive 53 carries. It was nice to see Wisconsin set the tone for the game by committing to the ground attack early. The team's opening drive covered 80 yards, none of which came through the air, and resulted in a touchdown.

Freshmen - Wisconsin's freshmen continue to have a remarkably positive impact on this season. Erik Smith and Montee Ball received a combined 14 carries out of the backfield. Curt Phillips got into the game at quarterback, running four times and attempting six passes. Kraig Appleton recorded his first receptions of the season and looked good. David Gilbert blocked a punt that was returned for a touchdown. Chris Borland forced and recovered yet another fumble. Gilbert and Borland, in particular, have been big-play guys on defense and on special teams throughout the year.

Secondary - We've been on their case all year, so we better give them the props they earned Saturday. The defensive backs played great football, holding Purdue quarterback Joey Elliott to 5-of-23 passing for 59 yards. Cornerback Devin Smith, who has been up and down this year, recorded a spectacular interception and got a foot down in bounds. He and Chris Maragos both broke up passes. The coverage was simply outstanding all day. Purdue's receivers had an extremely difficult time getting open.

The Bad

Quarterbacks - Scott Tolzien was not asked to do much in this game, putting the ball up only 13 times. Still, he completed just six passes for 87 yards and did not throw a touchdown pass for the third consecutive game. Tolzien did not look nearly as sharp on his passes as he did during the early part of the season, and it's becoming a concern. Curt Phillips did not look much better in garbage time, throwing an interception and only rushing for three yards. While letting Clay and the run game dominate was clearly the right strategy against the second-worst rushing defense in the Big Ten, it does suggest a lack of confidence in the quarterbacks not to ask them to throw more, especially once the game was out of reach. Interestingly enough, one of last year's starters, Dustin Sherer, was a topic of conversation at Bielema's press conference Monday. Sherer is an Indiana native and the Badgers play in Bloomington this week. Bielema reiterated that he thought Sherer would have an opportunity to help Wisconsin win a game at some point this year. With Tolzien's stock plummeting recently and Phillips probably not quite ready, it wouldn't be a shock if Sherer saw action before the season ends.

David Gilreath - Gilreath simply needs to be replaced, or at least complemented, as the main return man. Simply put, he looks lost on the football field this year. He runs laterally way too often, and seems to have no idea whether to call for a fair catch on punts. Bielema said he would use Isaac Anderson at times, but we didn't see him in either role against Purdue. It is tough to single out one guy when the special teams unit has been poor all year, but Philip Welch, Brad Nortman and the coverage team all played adequately Saturday, and Gilreath still struggled.

No Sellout - It is tough to find three negatives after shutting out a Big Ten opponent, but it has to be considered a disappointment that Camp Randall was not sold out Saturday. Even after two losses, the Badgers came into this game 5-2 and Purdue was considered a decent team. Late-October Big Ten games in Madison should always sell out. Period. There are, of course, circumstances to consider, chiefly that many people want nothing to do with the chaos of Madison over Halloween weekend. And, of course, it is nice to know that Camp Randall will be packed to the brim for the Badgers' last home game of the season against Michigan, no matter how far the Wolverines continue to fall.

-Jake Harris

A Little Rest Does a Badger Good: Wisconsin Shuts-out Purdue, 37-0

hmlee — Sat, 31 Oct 2009 22:08:42 -0000

More photos » by Andy Manis - AP

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Well now that's more like it. I do enjoy starting my Saturday off with a completely dominating victory by the Wisconsin Badgers. Granted, it was against the Purdue Boilermakers - not exactly the class of the Big 10 this season - but after the way the Badgers have been playing the last few weeks, it was quite satisfying.

It seems as though Wisconsin's bye week came at exactly the right time this year. Like my Badgers, I also took some rest and relaxation time, returning to the dairy state to visit family and escape the grind of the midpoint of the law school semester. It seems as though this time in the college football season has much in common with my 1L year. The Badgers and I both came out of the gate strong - staying on top of non-con foes and contracts readings. But both of us stumbled a bit through the meat of the conference schedule and midterms, staggering into this past week just hoping for a break and a time to catch our breaths. While Bucky rested up from concussions and contusions I too had an injury break - seriously, that carpal tunnel is a bitch.

Of course, it did help the newly rejuvenated Badgers that the Purdue team that showed up at Camp Randall looked more like the Boilermakers of the beginning of the season than the team that stunned Ohio State and rolled over Illinois. Purdue's offense once again lost the turnover battle, losing two fumbles and tossing one INT to Wisconsin's single garbage time interception. This alone would seem to be a significant hurdle for Purdue to climb, but unfortunately for them, it was also accompanied by a rash of drops among their receiving core. I don't have a total of the number of balls that bounced off their buttery fingers, but it seemed that any time Purdue got a bit offensive momentum, they were undone by a receiver forced incompletion. This had the effect of killing most of their drives before they even got started. Some of these incompletes were due to the aggressive and solid play of the Wisconsin D, who showed great coverage, especially in the secondary. The efforts of the secondary kept Purdue from making big plays - their longest pass play went for only 16 yards, and the linebacker Culmer St. Jean seemed to be tackling guys all over the field.

In fact, with one notable exception, almost everything about this game was positive, and I can't recall a recent conference game that has been quite as fun to watch as this one.

More about that exception as well as my takes on the great, the good, and the mediocre after the jump...

Graham takes a look at the defenses in the Big 10...

My week 7 recap of the Iowa travesty...

My Bucky the Badger pumpkin wishes you a happy Halloween!

As I said above, there really was not much, if anything, bad about the play of Wisconsin this game. So, instead of going with the tried and true (and some might say cliche) break down of the good, the bad, and the ugly, I'll be bringing you an edition of the great, the good, and the medicore.

The Great:

John Clay: Big, bad John Clay is baaack, and I am quite happy to see him return from the bye in apparently good health. Clay took a huge hit in the Iowa game two weeks ago and completely lost effectiveness during that game's second half. He suffered some sort of leg injury and I feared that he might have been out for a few games or done for the season. Instead, Clay rolled over Purdue's run defense for a total of 123 yards and 3 TDs. He, along with Philip Welch, was the entirety of the Badger offense today. If Clay keeps this rate of production up against Indiana, Michigan, Northwestern, and Hawaii he should easily surpass 1,000 yards and may make it into the upper teens in TDs. Those would be very nice stats from a guy who wasn't even the sole running back going into the season.

The defense: The young Badger defense, which had been plagued by inconsistency of late, giving up twice as many second half points as first half points during their last two games, stepped up today and showed why they should be feared in the conference for the next several years. I touched on the play of the secondary above, but really, the entirety of the defense played well. They had a consistent pass rush on Joey Elliot, and managed to contain Ralph Bolden to only 37 yards on 10 carries. And what's more, they managed to not fold in the second half as they have done several times before this season, preserving the shutout. They started strong and finished strong, which is what I want to see out of them on a weekly basis.

The Good:

Philip Welch: Welch has been struggling lately so it was good to see him post another perfect game. Welch made three field goals, for 22, 32, and 42 yards as well as four extra points. Welch was sporting spiffy new black socks today and I say, if a wardrobe change is what it takes for our kicker to be consistent, then lets just have him wear whatever color socks he wants. Red socks? Black socks? Those rainbow socks with the cute little toe thingies? Fine by me! Wisconsin is a very good team when it comes to scoring in the red zone, but for the times when the offense fails to punch it in, we need our kicker to be able to make the chip shots and ensure points on the board. Hopefully Welch will continue playing like he did today for the rest of the season.

Lance Kendricks: Kendricks had a solid game at tight end today, even despite the lack of a Badgers passing game. Kendricks was brought into the run game and managed 91 yards on 4 carries, with his longest being a brusing 51 yarder. Wisconsin has always had a great tight end team between Garrett Graham and Kendricks, but it was heartening to see him make an impact even when Tolzien was pretty much a non-entity.

Special teams: I have a bone to pick with part of the special teams below, but I would like to mention the blocked punt by David Gilbert which was returned into the end zone for a touch down by Aaron Henry. This turned a 17-0 advantage into a 24-0 pounding going into the half. It's good to see all units of the team keep up the pressure and grind their opponents down instead of letting them make adjustments and get back into the game.

The Mediocre:

Scott Tolzien: I have been one of the bigger Scott Tolzien bosoters in the blog world, but his play the last few weeks has been on the bad side of medicore. Coming into this game he had five interceptions and no TD passes in the last two weeks, an alarming change from his 9-3 TD-INT ratio through the first five games of the season. Well, he didn't throw any interceptions today... but that was largely because the coaching staff decided to take the ball out of his hands. He threw only 13 times with six completions for 87 yards, no TDs, and no INTs. On the one hand, I feel a bit bad about quibbling with this decision when it seems to have led to the shutout win. On the other hand, I wonder if Tolzien's confidence hadn't taken a hit in the last two games, and it might have been nice for him to throw a TD or at least triple digit yardage coming off the bye. Hopefully Tolzien can regain his confidence and performance levels from the start of the season and help carry the Badgers to a bowl victory this year.

Special teams punt returning: David Gilreath, I'm looking at you. Gilreath had one or two good punt returns when the Badgers were already up by 24, but he made a completely inexcusable decision on the first punt return of the day, when Wisconsin was only up by 7. Gilreath caught the ball at the 5 and then somehow managed to run sideways and backwards for a loss of 2 to pin Wisconsin on the 3 yard line. This has been going on all season and it has got to stop. I don't know whether we need a different return man or an actual special teams coach, but something needs to change. Wisconsin cannot keep getting hamstrung by its own return game if it expects to contend at the top of the Big 10 or in bowl games.

Those two issues aside, Bucky played a solid game today and looked like the 5-0 team from the start of the season instead of the 0-2 team from the last few weeks. I'll conclude this wrap-up with wishes for an awesome and safe halloween for everyone up in Madison (I wish I was there!) See you next week and...

On to the Hoosiers, On to 7-2, and ON WISCONSIN!!!

Everyone Is So Not Who I Thought They Were: Wisconsin Loses to Iowa 20-10

hmlee — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 20:36:03 -0000

More photos » by Andy Manis - AP

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Well, except for Northwestern. But that's a story for a different post. You know, if you only look at the first half of the Ohio State game and the first half of the Iowa game, then Wisconsin is 7-0. Wait... I'm not allowed to do that?

Aw, shucks.

So, maybe this glass isn't half full. The Badgers, once again, managed to play 30 minutes of great football before utterly collapsing. Except, this time the collapse came at home at Camp Randall and not on the road in a tough game in the 'Shoe. Today's game against Iowa really was a game of what ifs...

What if Bielema hadn't subbed Curt Phillips in for Scott Tolzien in the 2nd quarter and seemingly killed Wisconsin's offensive momentum for the rest of the game?

What if Tolzien hadn't thrown three more interceptions - one of which eventually resulted in 7 points for Iowa, and two which killed crucial 4th quarter drives?

What if Garrett Graham hadn't suffered a head injury in the first half?

What if John Clay hadn't also suffered an injury, which seemed to slow down his run game in the second half?

What if Nick Toon hadn't dropped a catchable pass at about the five yard line on third down?

What if Philip Welch hadn't subsequently missed a 38 yard field goal, leaving the score tied?

Finally, what if the Badger defense hadn't completely dissappeared for two quarters, allowing Iowa to put up 20, yes, 20, unanswered points?

In the end, though, the really great teams find a way to win despite all the what ifs on any given Saturday and the kinda-sorta-good teams, well, don't.

Seems like the 2009 Wisconsin Badgers are a kinda-sorta-good team, huh?

Graham takes a look at the Big 10 match-up of the week...

I replay the tough loss against Ohio State in week 6...

If you noticed, the top of my post is titled "Everyone is so not who I thought they were..." I'll get more into Wisconsin below, but I'd like to briefly talk about Iowa and Ohio State. As much as it kills me to write this, maybe Iowa is the best team in the Big 10. I was rather bruatlized by Iowa fans earlier this season for ranking them below OSU and Penn State. At the time, I said, "Show me more." Well, they have, and with OSU's shocking loss to Purdue today, I think I'm ready to change my mind.

Iowa, I've concluded, is the res ipsa loquitur team. You don't really know how it happened, but they keep on winning against good teams, and you know that usually undefeated teams are great so, like with res ipsa loquitur, you're kind of forced to conclude that they are a great team. It's odd, though. They don't have a run game. Their QB can be good, but he also has an alarming propensity to throw interceptions at crucial moments. Their defense is obviously very, very good but usually that by itself is not enough to win a conference. Really, they shouldn't be this good. But they are. And that's all that matters.

Ohio State... well, after today they look like a great team that is going to be fatally undone by the very mediocre play of the quarterback Terrelle Pryor. Their defense is amazing. The front seven completely brutalized Tolzien and the Bucky offense last week. Their linebackers find ways to intercept balls and then score touchdowns off of them. Their special teams is consistently good, and has the ability to break off the great type of plays that define a conference champion. But... they too, don't have a running game. And their QB isn't nearly as capable as Ricky Stanzi.

Where does this leave the conference, then? Iowa still has a date at the 'Shoe, which they could easily lose. But, unless they also get upset by one of Michigan State, Indiana, Northwestern, or Minnesota they are going to win the Big 10. I don't think that they will go to the BCS championship game, but that says more about the BCS voters than it does the Iowa team. So, that means they'd be ticketed for the Rose Bowl, likely against USC. If, on the other hand, they lose to OSU, get upset in one of their other four conference match-ups, AND Ohio State doesn't lose another game, the Buckeyes would head to the Rose Bowl via the tiebreak rules.

Okay... back to Wisconsin. Wisconsin is not who I thought they were. They are worse. I was very happy about the road win at Minnesota, and, while the Ohio State game was painful to watch, I understood the loss. It is true that in both of those games they looked a bit shaky... but I chalked that up to a young team playing on the road. It's starting to look more like this play is endemic to the team itself, and not just a factor of being on the road.

So, here are the takeaways from today's game:

Offense:

I still love Scott Tolzien, despite his sudden rash of interceptions. He's having a lot more pressure put on him because of failures of our offensive line, and that plus a few bad decisions is causing the turnovers. It is important to note that these turnovers have come against the two best defensive units in the Big 10. If he can avoid doing that against lesser defenses, then Wisconsin can still finish this season strong.

Despite my detractors last week, I still love John Clay. He is a feature back. Starting because Zach Brown was out due to a concussion, Clay managed to rack up 70 rushing yards in the first half. He suffered a leg injury of some kind in the second quarter, and it might have been that or fatigue that made him ineffective in the second half. I also have to give credit to Montee Ball, the freshman, for stepping in admirably after that injury to Clay. He had some great carries, including a 10 yard TD run. It is my hope that Clay's injury is not serious and that he'll be ready to go for next week, because if he's out, the Wisconsin offense is in trouble.

Defense:

I think that the defense is still a great unit - for the first half of the football game. I have no idea where they go after the half, and that is something that needs to be addressed. They are a young unit with great capacity for improvement over the next two years, but they need to learn to play for 60 minutes. They tend to come out strong - forcing both OSU and Iowa to 3 and outs in the start of these past two games, but then they fade. They have the ability to force turnovers - today's fumble recovery was their 17th of the season - but the secondary is weak and our cornerbacks get beat on pass plays far too often.

Special Teams:

The special teams is merely okay. Philip Welch had a great middle of the season.. after going only 2/5 in FG attemps in the first two games he had three straight perfect weeks. Then, he missed two last week and one this week. One of the missed ones against OSU was an absurdly long 57 yarder, which is excusable, but the other was a 33 yarder. Today's missed FG was a 38 yarder. Those two misses are not okay. His job as a kicker is to come on and put up points on the board when asked. If the offense is forcing him into extremely long situations, then it's understandable that he would miss a few, but he can't be missing chip shot or routine field goals. Our kick returns today were not nearly as bad as last week, but they still weren't good. David Gilreath really doesn't look comfortable out there. I'm not sure if the special teams mediocrity is because of the players or because of Brett Bielema. Maybe after this season he should hire a full time ST coach.

Coaching:

Our offensive playcalling was fine for the first half... Clay was performing well and Tolzien threw the ball when he needed to. The second half? Not so much. Time after time, Iowa stacked eight players and shut down the Wisconsin run game. Time after time, we continued to run on first down. The one time that we threw on first down in the fourth quarter we threw to the running back! I'm not sure why the versatility in the Badgers' offense disappeared, but the coaches need to remember that interceptions and receiver drops aside, Tolzien is a good QB - if you give him plays to throw on.

I'm reluctant to blame the performance of the defense on the coaching. Our blitzes were getting picked up too easily in the late game, but a lot of the other defensive issues can be blamed on missed tackles, idiotic penalties, and a secondary that just gets beat. I feel like if the coaching were to blame, the defense wouldn't be good at all, not good for a half and then non-existent for the second half.

So... After the bye, Wisconsin next gets Purdue at home. Purdue is not a good team. Yes, they did just beat Ohio State, but I think we can all agree that was completely unexpected. Wisconsin needs to take a hard look at the film from the last two weeks and figure out where things have gone so wrong. The season and a good bowl bid can still be saved. Let's start now.

On to game 8, On to getting back on track, and ON WISCONSIN!!!

Replay and React: The good and bad from Saturday's loss

Jbharris87 — Mon, 12 Oct 2009 22:03:39 -0000

More photos » by Terry Gilliam - AP

2 months ago: Ohio State wide receiver Ray Small (82) in pursuit by Bradie Ewing (34) and Devin Smith (10) runs for a 96-yard touchdown on a kickoff return during the third quarter of an NCAA college football game Saturday, Oct. 10, 2009, in Columbus, Ohio. Ohio State won 31-13. (AP Photo/Terry Gilliam)

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Perhaps the biggest indication of just how strangely Wisconsin's 31-13 loss at Ohio State played out is the wide range of fan reactions to the defeat. Some are almost gleefully pointing out that the Badger offense actually beat its Buckeye counterpart head-to-head by a score of 13-10. Others are looking at the actual margin of defeat and calling this a lost season after critical errors led to yet another road loss in the Big Ten.

The right perspective is somewhere in the middle. Like it or not, defense and special teams are two of the three phases of football. Ohio State's front seven were able to generate enough pressure on quarterback Scott Tolzien to force those two interceptions that were returned for touchdowns. Philip Welch missed those two field goals. And head coach Bret Bielema's own kick coverage unit didn't even get a hand on Ray Small when he returned that kickoff for a touchdown. These things happened. They were not flukes but, rather, the result of making critical mistakes against a better opponent on the road.

At the same time, it would be foolish to look at the offensive and defensive series in this game and come away completely discouraged. Wisconsin moved the ball on Ohio State and, if not for a combination of missed field goals and turnovers, would have scored more points. The Badger defense contained quarterback Terrelle Pryor admirably and got off the field quickly. The statistics were lopsidedly in favor of Wisconsin and, even though they are somewhat skewed by the Buckeyes' building a large lead in the second half, the Badgers dominated areas of this game.

In a weird way, it feels as though we never got to see these teams actually play each other. Wisconsin's offense was forced to become one-dimensional in the second half; we'll never know if John Clay could have worn down the Ohio State defense late in the game the way he did Minnesota's. Ohio State's offense was hardly on the field; every time the Buckeye defense or special teams unit scored a touchdown, they had to kick off to the Badgers again. We'll never know if Wisconsin's defensive dominance could have eventually forced another turnover. It's too bad because, while there is no guarantee Wisconsin would win if these teams played again, chances are that 21 points would not be scored with the Badger defense on the sideline.

Let's take a look at the highlights and low-lights:

The Good

Defensive Line - The Badgers controlled the line of scrimmage on defense, holding Terrelle Pryor to 35 rushing yards - 27 of which came on one carry. Running back Brandon Saine was held to 55 yards, 31 of which came on one carry. Outside of those two long runs, the team rushed for 39 total yards. Defensive end O'Brien Schofield harassed Pryor all day and the pressure he put on Pryor helped force the star quarterback into a 5-of-13 day passing.

Linebackers - The linebacking unit for the Badgers this year is much less heralded than the 2008 edition - but it is also playing much better football, particularly against spread offenses. The linebackers have been more disciplined this season and on Saturday they did a great job of staying in their gaps and not allowing big gains, particularly when the Buckeyes tried to run the option. Culmer St. Jean recorded a huge interception that he ran back to the Ohio State 12-yard line, setting up the only Wisconsin touchdown of the afternoon. In general, the defense did a great job getting off the field. The Buckeyes went three-and-out on six of their nine offensive possessions and one of the remaining three ended with St. Jean's interception.

Play Calling - This may surprise some fans, but the offensive and defensive play calling was pretty good Saturday. Offensive coordinator Paul Chryst dialed up plays that worked, effectively loosening up the middle of the Ohio State defense by designing wide receiver reverse plays for David Gilreath and Isaac Anderson. Defensive coordinator Dave Doeren devised a trustworthy scheme and essentially solved Terrelle Pryor. Tolzien's two interceptions that directly led to 14 points were not the result of bad play calls but, rather, intense pressure from the Buckeyes and bad decisions by the quarterback. Pryor's touchdown drive at the end of the first half was similarly not Doeren's fault but the result of bad execution on two critical plays - defensive end J.J. Watt's failure to contain Pryor on his 27-yard run and cornerback Antonio Fenelus getting beat (but barely) on the touchdown pass. There was also a questionable Buckeye catch on that drive that should have been reviewed.

The Bad

Scott Tolzien - We showered praise on the first-year starter at quarterback when he helped lead the Badgers to a 5-0 start, so we would be remiss if we didn't point out that Tolzien's performance Saturday helped cost Wisconsin a victory. While his completion percentage was reasonably high, Tolzien threw two bad interceptions that gave Ohio State 14 points without the Badger defense even seeing the field. Both were bad decisions - a high throw that sailed past Nick Toon and right into the arms of cornerback Kurt Coleman and a throw into double coverage that was tipped and returned 32 yards by Jermale Hines. Without the first interception, there was a good chance the Badgers could have come away with at least a field goal. To be fair, Tolzien was under heavy pressure all day and did not receive much help from his offensive line or his wide receivers, who were surrendering sacks, committing penalties and dropping balls left and right.

Offensive Line - The "best offensive line Matt Millen has seen on film this year" did not play like it Saturday. The line allowed Tolzien to be sacked six times after giving up a total of two during the previous five games. False starts and holding penalties consistently set the Badgers back. While it is tough to single out one player with the entire line performing the way it did, Josh Oglesby routinely got beaten in pass protection during the second half and looked slow.

Special Teams - Whether or not it is deserved, Bielema continues to invite criticism every time a special teams issue occurs and he refuses to hire a full-time coach for the unit. Despite ranking near the bottom of the Big Ten last season in both return and coverage statistics, Bielema has stubbornly insisted on continuing to coach special teams himself. Saturday was another inauspicious day in that department. Right after the Badgers cut Ohio State's lead to one score with a field goal, Ray Small returned the ensuing kickoff untouched for a touchdown. This put a team not built for comebacks in a 28-13 second-half hole that they would not emerge from. Philip Welch also missed two field goals. The 57-yard miss is excusable, particularly after Welch made one from the same distance against Fresno State, but the second miss came at the end of a long, impressive drive and was badly needed to make it a 12-point game. David Gilreath simply looks lost returning kicks and punts and seems to be using a coin flip to decide whether or not to call for a fair catch. Enter Maurice Moore, who promptly took an unintentional step out of the Wisconsin end zone on a kickoff return, hesitated and tried to retreat, and then had to scramble just to make it out to the five-yard line. We'll give Bielema credit for successfully calling a fake field goal attempt that put six points on the board, but otherwise, the special teams unit was a mess Saturday.

-Jake Harris

Deja-Flu: Wisconsin kicks out a win over Fresno State

hmlee — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 06:13:23 -0000

More photos » by Morry Gash - AP

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Haven't I seen this margin of victory somewhere before? I love days like this past Saturday, in which, even while I am cooped up in the law library stacks, I can smell the bratwurst and almost feel the vibrations from the roar of the crowd jumpin' around at Camp Randall. A beautiful late summer day in Madison unfortunately presaged a not-so beautiful game against Fresno State. Frankly, I knew this was going to a tough one. The Bulldogs played us hard last year when we were on the road, and I knew, even though the field of battle was reversed, that they weren't going to roll over. Boy, was I right.

I also seem to have been right about Wisconsin's scary inconsistency this season. This game really did not start out well. Fresno State jumped out to an early lead, scoring midway through the 1st quarter and early in the 2nd to make it 14-0. Wisconsin was just a mess in the early goings. Their run defense was just about the only bright spot, as they missed a ton of tackles (which gave the Bulldogs waaay too many yards after the catch), couldn't buy a pass rush, and couldn't defend their own QB against the rush from Fresno. A much needed switch to a more man-to-man form of coverage finally managed to take away the short screen passes and dinky drop-offs from the Bulldog offense, but somehow this ended up leaving the secondary vulnerable to deep passes, especially to Devon Wylie, who just gave the Badgers fits for the entire game. Despite the icky way things were going, Scott Tolzien's poise was impressive. Several times he managed to complete passes even as the pocket was collapsing around him, and he showed a decent ability to scramble a bit and give himself extra time when the O-line failed.

Make sure to go back and submit your picks for Week 3 of the Obligatory Predictions Contest. Weekly winners get a chance to write 500 words on the site. NEW this year is our season long competition - win the whole damn thing and we send you something amazing.

The Badgers eventually got on the board after Zach Brown found a hole in the red zone and, even though the gave the points back almost immediately, a good kick return by David Gilreath set the Badgers up nicely for their 2nd TD of the game. This came on an end-around, to, you guessed it, Gilreath himself. It seemed that the breaking up of the run-run-run play calling, and allowing Tolzien to throw a few times on 1st and 2nd down, let the Badgers catch the Bulldogs D napping. This was perhaps best illustrated by the plays at the end of the 1st half. Wisconsin appeared to be running out the clock by running it up the middle, but then spontaneously let Tolzien air one out to a perfectly placed Isaac Anderson. This set up a 57 yard FG for Philip Welch. There is something ironic, of course, about a kicker who was 0-for-3 in the season up to that point, and had just missed a relatively easy kick before, being able to boot an almost absurdly long kick right down the middle of the uprights, but I'll happily take it.

After the half, my love for Scott Tolzien grows by leaps and bounds...

Our Big 10 games of the week: Michigan State, Michigan, and Purdue...

My impressions of Wisconsin's narrow week 1 victory...

The third quarter seemed to start off with more of the same. The run D was still working well, and the rest of the D must have had a fire lit under them in the locker room because Bucky surprisingly developed an effective pass rush and managed a sack and two interceptions. The offense, though, while clicking on some very pretty throws, stalled a bit in the run department and just couldn't seem to step up in the crucial moments. Watching Brown and Clay going nowhere again and again was difficult for me, to say the least. The Big 10 has historically been a running conference, and Wisconsin has been a running school. Yet, one need only look at the current state and the three top teams (PSU, OSU, Michigan) to see that a dynamic QB, who is a deep threat as well as accurate for short screen passes, is necessary for success. Do these other schools have great RBs? For the most part, yes. But you can't keep an opposing defense guessing if they know you're going to run on nearly every down and treat throwing the ball like the football equivalent of downing a marmite sandwich. I think Tolzien has the arm to be at least close to that kind of player for Wisconsin, if the coaching staff will let him.

Despite the two turnovers, there was mysteriously no scoring for either team in the entire 3rd quarter. It almost seemed to fly by, though, not much changed in the 4th until John Clay ripped off a 72 yard run to put the Badgers on top by three. Okay, you might say, "Hilary, doesn't this prove that running is a good thing?" Well, yes, but I maintain that Clay wouldn't have found the hole he did without Tolzien connecting on passes earlier in the half. Keeping the other team uncertain of what you're going to do is half the offensive battle, and balanced play calling accomplishes that.

Of course, that inconsistency monster I mentioned earlier reared its ugly head as regulation came to a close. The D managed to keep the Bulldogs out of the end zone, including a great stop on 3rd and 19, but they did ultimately give up the lead on a 41 yd FG by Kevin Goessling, the player who pretty much single-handedly lost the game for Fresno State last year. This allowed the Bulldogs to drag this thing into OT. Look, I give the Badgers a lot of credit for clawing their way back into the game. It's not easy to be down 21-7 and somehow reclaim the lead, but if Wisconsin wants to do well in conference play, they need to take advantage of their comebacks and put the proverbial cleet on their opponent's throat. In the immortal words of Mortal Kombat, "Finish him!"

The OTs were, in the weird way that all college OTs seem to be, both exciting and snore inducing. Back and forth we go, when we stop nobody knows. The game ultimately turned on a key end zone interception by the Wisconsin defense and a 22 yarder by Welch to win both the 2nd OT and the game. Guess he redeemed himself during this one, huh?

So, where does this leave us? Of course I am happy for the win, being 2-0 to start the season is nice. But, last year, Wisconsin rolled out to 3-0 and then dropped four straight conference matchups. We all know how that turned out. I want them to win as much as any Badger fan and I think they certainly have the talent to do it, but until they show me more consistency I will be very nervous going into any even remotely challenging game... But for now, all I have to say is...

On to week 3, on to Wofford, and ON WISCONSIN!

Wisconsin Final Look: The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly

Clear Visor — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 05:21:36 -0000

[Note by Mike Breese, 09/09/09 12:39 AM CDT ] Please welcome Clear Visor (aka 7 for the message board faithful) as the newest member of RABA's writing team!

The Good

Heart.The one for sure characteristic you can take away from NIU on Saturday is they will play with heart. There were multiple moments late in the second and fourth quarters where the Huskies could have easily rolled over and died. Shortly after NIU forced Wisconsin's first punt late in the second quarter, Me'co Brown coughed up the ball to Wisconsin and gave them prime scoring position. A touchdown would have made it 21-6, and presented impeding doom for NIU. However, a Patrick George corner blitz forced an errant throw by Wisconsin QB Scott Tolzien, landing in the awaiting arms of Cory Hanson, and keeping it a one possession game going into the half. After a disastrous third quarter (more to come on that), Northern faced a 28-6 deficit with Wisconsin once again driving. NIU could have once again easily folded up the tents and went home, but a missed field goal by Philip Welch left the door open and the Huskies jumped on the opportunity. Chad Spann scored on 1 yard touchdown run to make the score 28-12. Then another Cory Hanson interception set up a second Spann touchdown run and the insuing two point conversation to cut the deficit to eight. NIU then recovered an onside kick only to come up just short when Harnish's pass fell incomplete. It is a sixty minute game, and NIU sent a message that you have to beat them for all sixty minutes if you want to come out with a victory.

Tackling.Wisconsin's power rushing game was negated for the most part by Northern's defense, and a big part of that was great tackling. By cutting Zach Brown and John Clay at the legs, it basically negated Clay's best asset, his power. The DB's, who admittedly struggled in pass coverage, did a great job in run support hold Clay to fewer than three yards a carry.

The Bad

The Pass Defense.It is rather obvious what NIU's gameplan was on Saturday, make Wisconsin beat you through the air and Scott Tolzien obliged. Tolzien was 15/20 for 257 yards and an eighty yard touchdown on Wisconsin's first offensive possession. If Adam Weber or Daryl Clark does that to you, that is one thing, but Scott Tolzien had his scholarship pulled from Northern in favor of Billy Lowe and was known to be more of a game manager coming into the game. Nearly every time Wisconsin needed a play through the air, Tolzein made it. You can not give up a long touchdown pass on the first play of the game against anyone, much less a running team like Wisconsin. NIU got themselves in a hole early in the game and never were able to climb out of it.

The Ugly

The Third Quarter. And boy, was it ever ugly.

Score: 14-0

Rush Yards: 59-14

Pass Yards: 115-8

Total Yards: 174-22

1st Downs: 10-1

3rd Downs: 3/3-0/2

Time of Poss.: 12:11-2:49

Before both teams reached the locker room it was blatantly obvious what needed to happen if the Huskies were going to leave Camp Randall with a W, they needed to get a stop coming out of the half. That did not happen, instead Wisconsin marched on an 11 play, 92 yards drive culminating in a John Clay touchdown run. Northern proceeded to go three and out, and the Badgers stuck a dagger in the hearts of the Huskies by going on another 12 play touchdown drive capped off once again by a Clay touchdown.

Honorable mentioned for the ugly goes to Wisconsin women. Too much cheese and beer, not enough stair master.