Big numbers only part of Badgers' impressive showing
September 25, 2010 | Football
Sept. 25, 2010
MADISON, Wis. -- The 67-point margin of victory gives a pretty clear picture of the day the No. 11 Wisconsin football team had Saturday, but it certainly doesn't tell the whole story.
Dominance on both sides of the ball led to some lopsided --and record-setting -- numbers on the scoreboard and in the final stats.
Still, Badgers fans are likely out there thinking that, while the numbers were great, they came against Austin Peay and that Michigan State will be another story next weekend.
The Badgers should be expected to pile up impressive numbers against a team that's never made a postseason appearance at any level. Fair enough.
Still, opponent aside, the Badgers put together their most complete, error-free game of the year at exactly the right time. The self-inflicted type of mistakes that had drawn the ire of fans through the season's first three weeks were nowhere to be found Saturday.
Just one penalty. A perfect 9-for-9 mark in the red zone. Five successful third-down conversions in seven attempts.
"This game was a good next step leading into the Big Ten," said freshman tailback James White, who scored four touchdowns. "You try and execute each drive like we did this week, trying to score on every drive."
Plays for negative yardage? Try just two in 68 snaps: a sack of quarterback Scott Tolzien on UW's first series and a 1-yard loss by Kyle Zulegar on the Badgers' final offensive play.
And, for the second straight week, UW did not turn the ball over.
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"The biggest thing has been the turnovers, the turnovers in the first two weeks versus the last two weeks," Tolzien said. "You can't play a clean game with turnovers and that makes a big difference."
On the other side, no long gains were given up by the defense. Austin Peay's longest play of the day was a 22-yard pass, and the Badgers held the Governors to an average of just 1.3 yards per carry rushing and only 6 yards per attempt passing.
"We talked this week just about the team getting better. It was a team effort today," sophomore linebacker Mike Taylor said. "We worked on improving at each position, playing our game, and testing ourselves to see how we would do getting ready for Big Ten play."
After crucial breakdowns in those areas last week against Arizona State, all the Badgers did is provide suffocating coverage on kickoffs and punts. The Governors averaged a miniscule 12.8 yards on their 11 kickoff returns.
Returner Terrence Holt - the all-time FCS leader in kickoff return yardage and Austin Peay's biggest scoring threat - was stymied by the Badgers' kick coverage unit.
Even the final play of the game was a big one for the Badgers, a booming, 76-yard punt by Brad Nortman that was downed on the Austin Peay 1-yard line.
It was that type of day for the Governors. That means it was a very good day for the Badgers.
"During the course of the week, what we really preached to the kids was to play the game the way it needs to get played," head coach Bret Bielema said. "I really thought that after the game got out of hand a little bit scoring-wise and we started rolling people through in all phases, offense, defense and special teams, they continued to play really clean."
The way UW kept things sharp in the second half is especially impressive, given both the one-sided score and the fact that so many young players got their first meaningful playing time.
Tolzien was effective under center, John Clay topped the 100-yard mark, Lance Kendrdicks caught a touchdown pass and Taylor led the way for the defense with seven tackles. There's nothing new about any of those performances, however, and the Badgers got exactly what they expected out of their usual No. 1s.
It's the way so many backups played such and intelligent and disciplined game that should have the coaching staff smiling as they prepare for the task of heading to East Lansing next Saturday to face Michigan State.
"The biggest thing is that we played a clean game," Tolzien said. "A lot of times in games like this, guys get complacent, but I thought today we maximized our opportunities.
"Guys came out ready to play and embraced the opportunity."
Many around college football will look at all the big numbers Wisconsin put up Saturday as watered down because of who the Badgers lined up against, and fairly so - they likely won't be putting up 600 yards or 70 points against the Spartans next week.
But the ability to put together a complete, four-quarter game? That translates to any opponent.
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Brian Mason
UW Athletic Communications
