The Wisconsin football team plays host to Western Illinois at 2:30 p.m. Saturday in the home-opener at Camp Randall Stadium. Here are the 10 most interesting game notes for the first matchup of the year. To read the full game notes packet, click on "Weekly Release" found under the links column on the right-hand side of the page.
1: Redshirt freshman running back P.J. Hill rushed for 130 yards and one touchdown on 22 carries vs. Bowling Green. His 130 yards were the second-most in UW history by a freshman in his first game. Anthony Davis ran for 147 yards vs. Virginia on Aug. 25, 2001.
2: Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema became just the second UW coach in history to win his debut away from Madison. The only other coach to do so was Herb Alward whose 1891 Badgers defeated Beloit on the road. Bielema will attempt to become just the second UW head coach to win his first two games since Clarence Spears did so in 1932. Dave McClain won his first two games in 1978.
3: Wisconsin is 17-1 in its last 18 regular-season non-conference games. That includes wins in the last nine straight against non-Big Ten foes. UW's only loss during that 18-game stretch was a 23-5 setback to UNLV in Madison on Sept. 13, 2003.
4: Saturday will be Wisconsin's 2006 home opener. The Badgers are 94-19-4 all-time in home openers and have not lost a home opener since 1995 against Colorado (43-7).
5: UW head coach Bret Bielema and Western Illinois coach Don Patterson coached together at Iowa from 1994-98. Patterson was the tight ends coach at Iowa when Bielema arrived there as a walk-on freshman in 1989. Originally slated to play tight end in college, Bielema switched to the defensive line upon his arrival in Iowa City.
6: Tight end Andy Crooks, tight end Travis Beckum, wide receiver Luke Swan, running back Dywon Rowan and fullback Bill Rentmeester all recorded their first career receptions vs. Bowling Green. With three receptions on Saturday, Beckum is now the career leader in catches among active players on UW's roster (Marcus Randle El also has three career receptions but is likely out for the season with a knee injury).
7: Sophomore linebacker Jonathan Casillas was named Big Ten co- Special Teams Player of the Week after blocking a punt and recovering it for a touchdown in the second quarter vs. Bowling Green. It was the third blocked punt for Casillas in just his 13th game as a Badger. 10 Wisconsin carries a 16-4 record in its last 20 games at Camp Randall Stadium into the 2006 campaign. That includes an 11-1 mark over the past two seasons.
8: Wisconsin, which has ranked 19th or higher in national attendance average in each of the past 13 seasons, has drawn a crowd of at least 70,000 fans to 81 consecutive home games. Among those 81 games, 71 have been sellouts, including the last 18 in a row. The Badgers averaged a school-record 82,551 fans during their six-game home slate in 2005.
9: UW has won its last 11 games in the month of September and is 18-1 over the past five years in games played before Oct. 1.
10: The University of Wisconsin Athletic Hall of Fame will induct six new members (Marc Behrend/hockey, Paul Gruber/football, Duane Kleven/wrestling, Pam Moore/track and basketball, Ken Siebel/basketball, Don Voss/football and track) this weekend. Ceremonies will take place on Friday, Sept. 8, with a reception at 5:30 p.m. and induction ceremony at 6:30 p.m. in GAR Park, on the east side of the Camp Randall Memorial Sports Center (Shell).
