They are Marshall

First off let's all breathe a sigh of relief.

Randy Moss won't be suiting up for Marshall this weekend.

And neither will Chad Pennington.

Or Byron Leftwich. Or Doug Chapman. Or any of the other excellent football players who have passed through Huntington, W. Va., in the not-so-distant past.

I'm not sure when this game was scheduled (Polzin?), but considering how far in advance some non-conference games are scheduled, when we booked this one Marshall could have been in their borderline top 25 phase. In 1999 they went 13-0, and in 2001 and 2002 they went 11-2.

So at one point our non-conference schedule may have included Marshall, Fresno State, and Virginia Tech — all programs capable of reeling off 10-win seasons. Not too shabby. But because most programs have dry spells at times, we now welcome a program that has gone 4-7, 5-7, and 3-9 in the last three seasons to Madison this weekend.

That doesn't mean this Thundering Herd team can't give us a good game.

Apparently, Marshall thinks they can match our offensive line size-wise. That's interesting, because not many non-BCS teams could; not many BCS teams could, either.

Size aside, the Herd have some defensive playmakers, like safety C.J. Spillman and defensive end Albert McClellan. If you don't think a defensive back we've never heard of before can't come in to Camp Randall and derail a favored UW team, remember what Jamaal Brimmer and UNLV did in 2003.

On our side, Travis Beckum might back, and Jonathan Casillas is going to test his knee, although he probably won't play. As much as I think we'd win this game without Beckum, it would be nice for him and Allan Evridge to get some game work in together before heading to Fresno.

Don't think we're going to lose this one, but can see it being a good test. Depends on how Evridge plays. Last week Paul Chryst was very conservative with the passing game, and with good reason — if you can run for 400 yards, you do it, and save some of the passing playbook or bigger games. My guess is that Evridge throws 15-20 passes this week after throwing 10 last week; whether or not any of those are intercepted, in addition to how we do against the Herd's — sigh — Spread offense will determine how long Marshall has a shot in this one.

Wisconsin 31, Marshall 20