UW-Miami box score

I'm still glowing from last night's Badger win, what a way to end the season and get a strong start on 2010. Again, more on that later. Let's look at the box score for some stats that may not have been available immediately after the game.

-Time of possession edge for Bucky: 39:15 to 20:45. Love it. Great balanced play calling by Paul Chryst and above average execution allows that to happen.

-More on that: Miami had 71 tackles, Wisconsin had 41.

-Red zone efficiency: 4-for-4. Stellar all year.

-The temperature was indeed 50 degrees at gametime. It just baffles me that this is heater weather for any team, even one from Florida. Did you see those fat guys from UCLA walking around shirtless in 30-degree Washington, D.C., before their bowl game? Wish I hadn't, but you have to like their attitude. Miami didn't have it.

-Niles Brinkley led us with six tackles. I thought the late hit penalty he got whistled for was iffy, but it was close enough to not be horrible.

-On penalties: I thought the two Kraig Appleton got called for were iffy, but close enough to be horrible. Glad to see him out there a lot, he could conceivably take a big step forward next year, a la Nick Toon this year.

-What a way for O'Brien Schofield to go out: two sacks and a forced fumble. You could argue that Scott Tolzien's performance had more to do with us reversing last year's course with his efficient play, but it's hard to argue that any single player was more important to this year's success than Schofield. He made a ton of tackles behind the line of scrimmage and exhibited terrific leadership. We've got a ton coming back next year, but O'Beezy will be tough to replace.

-Although J.J. Watt seems like a great bet to do it. Two tackles for loss, a fumble recovery and two pass breakups. It would be great to see a full year of J.J. at full strength.

-Chris Borland: two tackles for loss and two QB hurries. No extra points. Jae McFadden and Culmer St. Jean had solid games, but with Borland, Blake Sorensen and Mike Taylor coming back I'm not worried about this unit at all. Especially excited about Taylor's return.

-Another note on Brad Nortman: three punts downed inside the 20, only six punt return yards for Miami.

Watching the rest of these bowl games will be much more enjoyable after last night's win. Hopefully the Big Ten goes on to have a solid showing.

UW-Miami thoughts

What a win. What a win! Outstanding effort all the way around by the Badgers, great finish to a very satisfying year.

There are larger implications from winning this game, which we'll get to in the days to come, while we focus on tonight's game immediately. But the one thing I couldn't help but think in the immediate aftermath was this: Bret Bielema has a signature win, and the days of www.firebretbielema.com seem like a long, long time ago. This program heads into the offseason on solid footing.

On to tonight's game:

-Other than the first play of the game, we thoroughly dominated this game. For being the team that 90% of experts picked to win this game, Miami came out flat, predictable, and had glaring weaknesses exposed. The weather, "c0ld" at around 50 degrees, seemed to adversely affect Miami (did you see Donna Shalala bundled up like it was February in Madison? She's gotten soft). Our December game at Hawaii helped us maintain a good rhythm heading into this game, and we basically played our game: balanced offense, pass rush leading the defense. Miami was running trick plays from the opening whistle and didn't seem convinced they were the better team. If that was the case, they were right.

-Be honest: when we botched yet another onside kick recovery (how many was that this year?), you thought we were going to steal defeat from the jaws of victory, didn't you? Or was that just me? But give a load of credit to our defense, especially the line, who played great all night. Give the defensive game ball to J.J. Watt, who is setting the stage for two all-conference seasons. O'Brien Schofield was terrific too, we've come to expect that from him. And Chris Borland was around the ball a ton, showing some great speed and pass rush moves (Did you see his spin move that caused the Miami lineman to fall down? Vintage Borland.)

-Give credit to our defensive backs, too. The pass rush was consistent and kept Jacory Harris off balance, but with a couple exceptions our guys had decent coverage. A note on Chris Maragos: when he went off injured after our last kickoff, I noted it to Jana as a huge problem, and Miami marched straight down the field. Harris made a good throw to Hankerson, who made a nice catch in front of Aaron Henry, who should have blown him up instead of waiting for a tipped ball to fall into his hands. We'll miss Maragos.

-We heard a lot about Miami's run defense leading up to this game, and about our failings in the run game against Ohio State and Iowa (maybe they have pretty good defenses). Well guess what? We ran for 170 yards, John Clay went for 121 yards and two touchdowns, and Montee Ball had a solid 61 and didn't look intimidated at all. Let's identify who deserves primary credit for this:

Gabe Carimi, Travis Frederick, John Moffitt, Kevin Zeitler, Josh Oglesby. With a few exceptions, the holes weren't gaping, but they were substantial enough for 3-4 yards at a crack, which we'll take all day. Carimi coming back from his early leg injury was huge, as was Oglesby after his several-game absence. It's hard to properly identify interior blocking at times, but Frederick, Moffitt, and Zeitler were solid.

-Lance Kendricks had a big block on Clay's second touchdown run, but more notably he had 128 yards receiving. Good time to have a career day and set the stage for an all-conference senior season. Throw in Garrett Graham's six catches for 73 yards, and our tight ends went for more than 200 yards receiving tonight. That's one way to negate Miami's advantage at cornerback. Big props to Paul Chryst for designing a game plan that put these two guys in open spaces.

-Somebody had to get them the ball, and Scott Tolzien played a great game. He completed almost 75% of his throws and went for more than 250 yards (we also heard about his strugles against ranked teams too, didn't we?). He had the pick, but that was more the result of a nice play by Miami's lineman. Our pass protection wasn't exactly airtight, but it gave Tolzien enough time to diagnose the coverage and step into throws, and he consistently got the ball out just in time to the right guy. In last year's Champs Sports Bowl, our scattershot quarterback play helped us get blown out. In this year's, it helped us pull an upset.

-Speaking of last year, how do you think last year's team would have done after giving up a game-opening kickoff return for a touchdown*; throwing a pick on the edge of the red zone; fumbling away the game-salting touchdown; racking up 60 yards in penalties, which all seemed to negate crucial plays; fumbling an onside kick? Any one or two of those things would have done in last year's team. This year's team was resilient, we overcame all those negatives. Give credit to the captains: Maragos, Schofield, Graham, Mickey Turner, with help from the likes of Watt, Moffitt, Sherer, McFadden. Great leadership and chemistry this year.

-All year I've been complaining about Brad Nortman's propensity for kicking the ball into the end zone. Today he had at least two great punts that pinned Miami deep in their own territory. Great time for him to figure that out. And how about Philip Welch coming through with two field goals? Who's next to find his accuracy, Mason Crosby?

Did you see how the kids mobbed Bielema after the game? It was the best indication yet to me that this team realized that while Bielema and his staff took a lot of heat after 2008 (rightfully so), the players themselves had to take ownership of the results as well. The fact that they took a program that started with a ton of question marks in August and turned it into 10 wins and a victory over an ascendant Miami program in their home state in a game nobody thought they'd win had to be an incredibly satisfying experience for them to share. It showed in their reaction.

Watching tonight's game was an incredibly satisfying experience for me and Badger fans around the world.

Going to try and sleep now, wish me luck.

Already?

Wow, this bowl game really snuck up on us. If only we were playing in the Alamo Bowl against the team whose coach locks concussed players in closets, we'd have a few more post-Christmas days to mull over our bowl matchup.

But it's here, and we're the marquee game tonight. Should be a good one. Everyone has been asking me what I think, and while I think Miami should be favored, I also think the Badgers are going to win.

Why? A gut feeling as much as anything. As much as we agonize over this year's losses to Ohio State, Iowa and Northwestern, let's not forget about nine good wins.

As much as we fret about Miami's skill players and excellent young quarterback, let's not forget that we have an above-average pass rush (against a line missing its standout left tackle) and a run defense that didn't allow a 100-yard rusher in Big Ten play. It's not inconceivable that O'Brien Schofield, J.J. Watt, or Chris Borland could have a huge day for the front seven. Jacory Harris has thrown the ball to the other team a lot this year, why not again Tuesday night?

As much as we worry about facing a defense that slowed Georgia Tech's rushing attack, let's not forget that we have impeccable offensive balance. It's not inconceivable that John Clay could go for 150 yards, that Scott Tolzien could go for 250 yards, that Nick Toon or Garrett Graham could go for 100 yards and a couple touchdowns.

My point is that we have good players, too. Unlike last year, this year's Badgers have chemistry. The leadership is better this year. The coaching has been better. The quarterback play has been competent most of the year, which has kept the weaker parts of our team from being exposed.

I think this game is going to come down to special teams. We need either David Gilreath or Philip Welch to produce an unexpected plus play, and to not suffer any big negative plays (fumble, long return allowed).

So here it is: Wisconsin 26, Miami 23. Let's go Badgers!

Nobody loves Tolzien

Saw this mentioned on Madison.com the other day, I remember this during the Ohio State game, it was pretty funny.

UW-Hawaii thoughts

Finally got to watch the entire Wisconsin-Hawaii game Wednesday night after watching bits and pieces of it Saturday night during a family Christmas get-together. It was a nice, relaxing time, knowing what happened already. Some thoughts:

-O'Brien Schofield was just a beast, again, with two sacks and constant pressure. J.J. Watt finished the regular season strong, too, with two sacks and a tackle for loss. Those two ended up being the top TFL duo in the country -- did not expect that at the beginning of the season.

-Chris Borland and Louis Nzegwu also had sacks. There is solid hope to have a good pass rush again next season.

-And Borland kicked two extra points! Thought I dreamt that, but the box score and replay confirmed.

-Time of possession edge: 37:57 - 22:03.

-Workmanlike games for John Clay and Montee Ball, although Ball had more negative yardage runs than I would have liked -- 17 yards lost. He did look comfortable as a receiver out of the backfield.

-Scott Tolzien completed 80% of his passes. His accuracy and the pass rush from Schofield and Watt are the two biggest reasons we won nine games this year.

-David Gilreath had a really nice game, scoring on the end-around, making a great comeback on a long pass from Tolzien, and averaging almost 50 yards on two kickoff returns. Did you notice how, on that long pass play, Gilreath caught the ball and the Hawaii defender was standing there with his arms out, and a second later looked surprised he didn't have the ball? Funny.

-Lance Kendricks had a couple nice catches, but what I really liked was his block on Gilreath's touchdown run. Conversely, Garrett Graham was called for yet another hold. It's like he had a target on his jersey this year.

-It was really nice to see Dustin Sherer score that last touchdown, and his teammates' reaction (especially Zach Brown). Many stories have been written about the class Sherer showed in handling his demotion, and it shouldn't be understated. One reason this team achieved so much more than last year's was chemistry and leadership, and a vocally disappointed Sherer could have disrupted that. He didn't, and you can tell his teammates loved him for it.

Coming in I was a tiny bit worried that Hawaii would give us a good game. They were, after all, playing well and playing for bowl eligibility. That we dominated so thoroughly is a testament to the job Bret Bielema and his staff did getting the team prepared and focused.

Since their return, many of the Badgers on Twitter have frequently detailed their longing for paradise, but I think it's finally wearing off as their focus turns to Miami. This will be a good three weeks to get ready for the 'Canes and get the youngsters some additional practice time.

Academic All-Big Ten Badgers

Let's step away from the field for a moment and give credit to to the Badger football players who earned academic All-Big Ten honors:

Zach Brown, Gabe Carimi, Nate Emanuel, Bradie Ewing, Antonio Fenelus, Matthew Groff, Will Hartmann, Jordan Hein, Aaron Henry, Tyler Holland, Peter Konz, Andrew Lukasko, Prince Moody, Brad Nortman, Chukwuma Offor, Curt Phillips, Devin Smith, Blake Sorensen, Scott Tolzien, Mickey Turner, J.J. Watt, Drew Woodward.

That's eight starters, five key reserves, and a smattering of special teams contributors. Nice work in the classroom, fellas!

Actual all-conference Badgers

So how did I do? Not bad. Underestimated John Moffitt, Jay Valai and Brad Nortman. Happy to be right on the rest.

LB Chris Borland, Fr.
Big Ten Freshman of the Year (media and coaches)
Honorable mention All-Big Ten (media and coaches)
Lots of very good linebackers in the Big Ten, couldn't see him any higher than HM.

T Gabe Carimi, Jr.
First-team All-Big Ten (media)
Second-team All-Big Ten (coaches)
So the coaches think someone named Dennis Landolt from Penn State is better than Gabe? Huh.

RB John Clay, So.
Big Ten Offensive Player of the Year (media and coaches)
First-team All-Big Ten (media and coaches)

TE Garrett Graham, Sr.
First-team All-Big Ten (media)
Second-team All-Big Ten (coaches)
Tony Moeaki being chosen over him on the coaches first team is a joke.

S Chris Maragos, Sr.
Honorable mention All-Big Ten (media and coaches)
Big Ten Sportsmanship honoree
I like the sportsmanship award more than the HM. Great honor for another great walk-on story.

G John Moffitt, Jr.
First-team All-Big Ten (media and coaches)
Who'd have thought the public face/mouth of the program would be a guard?

P Brad Nortman, So.
Honorable mention All-Big Ten (coaches)
I nitpick with him, but Brad was very solid this year, few worries about him.

DE O’Brien Schofield, Sr.
First-team All-Big Ten (media and coaches)
Very surprised that both OB and Jared Odrick were first team picks over Ryan Kerrigan and the Ohio State guys.

QB Scott Tolzien, Jr.
Honorable mention All-Big Ten (coaches)

WR Nick Toon, So.
Honorable mention All-Big Ten (media and coaches)

S Jay Valai, Jr.
Second-team All-Big Ten (coaches)
Honorable mention All-Big Ten (media)

DE J.J. Watt, So.
Honorable mention All-Big Ten (media)

Also of interest:

-Ohio State's defense had one first team pick, Kurt Coleman.

-The coaches made Juice Williams an HM pick. Huh?

-The media made Terrelle Pryor an HM pick. Huh? The Juice/Pryor guys must have cast their votes in August.

-There weren't many top-flight running backs in the conference this season.

-Here's my favorite selection: Eric Decker was a Sportsmanship Award honoree by the coaches. Apparently no one asked Jack Ikegwuonu or his testicles.

All-conference Badgers

The Big Ten will reveal its all-conference football teams tonight, and Wisconsin should be better-represented than last year, when Allen Langford and Garrett Graham were the only two all-league Badgers. Here's how I see our potential selections breaking down.

First team
John Clay -- No brainer, leads the conference in rushing and touchdowns. Should be offensive player of the year. (Aside: it's sort of hilarious that Terrelle Pryor and Juice Williams were the odds-on picks for offensive player of the year in the preseason, isn't it?)

Gabe Carimi -- Best lineman on the league's highest-scoring offense.

Garrett Graham -- Easily the best receiving tight end in the conference, also an asset in the run game.

O'Brien Schofield -- Started really hot, and though he didn't maintain his breakneck pace as the competition stiffened, he set the tone early for a defense which exceeded expectations this year. Part of me fears that he may get lost in the shuffle of all the Big Ten's excellent defensive linemen -- Brandon Graham, Ryan Kerrigan, Adrian Clayborn, Ohio State's guys -- but OB should be one of the top four.

Honorable mention
Scott Tolzien -- Had a really nice season. Other quarterbacks may have better numbers and may be more dynamic, but I'm happy with our guy.

Nick Toon -- If he played in an offense that passed more, or on a team that was behind more, his numbers would be much better and he'd be a first teamer.

Chris Maragos -- Had four interceptions and played really well, but there were at least four better defensive backs in the league this year.

J.J. Watt -- Nice debut. With Schofield gone next year expect him to elevate his game.

Chris Borland -- Can you choose a special teams player who isn't a returner or kicker? If they have a plcae for someone like this, Borland makes it. Second in the league in forced fumbles and tied for first in fumbles recovered despite only starting a handful of games. A playmaker.

John Moffitt -- A second guy from the line that led the league's top rushing attack ought to earn some sort of all-conference honors. But who? Moffitt? Josh Oglesby? Peter Konz? Kevin Zeitler? I probably picked Moffitt because he's so gregarious, but despite some rocky moments he has opened plenty of holes on the left side and pulling right.

Hopefully I forgot a guy or two, and of these second-tier guys get bumped up, but either way there have been plenty of individual performances to be happy with this year.

UW-Northwestern thoughts

Any time the Badgers lose to Northwestern, in any sport, it really stings. Why? Because the school does not care about athletics. The students, faculty, alumni, surrounding area -- no one cares. Clearly.

They are the Big Ten's premier academic institution, and for that they should be lauded. That's what universities should strive for. But their facilities are laughable, their athletes less talented, their paying fans far fewer in numbers than most of the conference.

And yet, our football team never seems to win in Evanston. Much to the delight of the several thousand polite people wearing purple, whose individual cheers were audible during the broadcast. Their students rushed the field after this game, which made them 5-3, 8-4 and likely gave them an Alamo Bowl berth. Really? I thought these kids were smart.

The final margin was two points, but it wasn't that close. We were outplayed from start to finish. Winning that game would have been highway robbery. I would have taken that, of course, but it it would not have been deserved. Northwestern took it to us and got the result they deserved.

At some point in the fourth quarter Charissa Thompson remarked that the Badgers' sideline was quiet, and had been all game, while Northwestern's was enthusiastic and lively. That showed on the field. Our guys had their moments, but it felt like they were going through the motions. Northwestern played with enthusiasm and heart.

Overall, I'm still really happy with the way this season has played out, and will elaborate more on that later, but today sucked.

-I hate harping on individual guys, they're amateurs giving it their best, but Isaac Anderson had the worst game by an individual Badger in recent years that I can remember. First offensive play of the game he drops a touchdown pass. Then he muffs the kickoff return and gives us awful field position. Then his holding call wipes out a first down catch and run by Nick Toon (who had another nice game). Then he's penalized for running forward before the snap on a play in which he caught a touchdown pass. Ike's had a nice year for us, but he really struggled today.

-Thought Scott Tolzien played a nice game. He generally found open guys, although he wasn't able to avoid the pass rush at key times.

-Awesome game for Garrett Graham, who sewed up all-conference honors today. They could not hang with him.

-During the game I was writing a post on John Clay's NFL draft prospects, and remarked that his ball security has been much better since he had his problems early this year. Then he coughs it up on not much of a hit when we're driving in for the go-ahead score. In my mind he's still clearly the Big Ten's offensive player of the year, but today was not one of his better days.

-There will probably be some praise for Mike Hankwitz in the aftermath of this one, but we still scored 31 points, so their defense wasn't that good. There's a good chance we might end up leading the conference in scoring this year.

-The secondary did not have its best day today, but a lackluster pass rush had a lot to do with their struggles. Mike Kafka had plenty of time to throw, and when we did get close to him we generally weren't able to bring him down. Decent player.

-Defense made it the entire year without allowing 100 yards rushing to a Big Ten opponent. Sort of unbelievable, no?

-Can't think of a single defensive player who stood out as playing well individually today.

-I've been tough on David Gilreath for his returns this season, but that punt return for a touchdown today was really nice. Not spectacular, but excellent execution between the returner and his blockers was textbook.

-Despite the general lack of interest surrounding Northwestern sports, they still wind up having good teams from time to time because of the sheer will of leaders like Pat Fitzgerald. That guy is a hell of a coach, and as long as they hold on to him -- which should be a long time -- they will be competitive.

Boy am I glad I didn't make the trip to Evanston today!

UW-Northwestern halftime thoughts

Wow, that was horrible. Northwestern is a slightly above-average team, well-coached, but they looked like the freaking 1984 San Francisco 49ers in the first half. I honestly don't see any way we win this game, our guys look uninterested, and our coaches overmatched.

-Isaac Anderson's first half performance sums it up. On our first play he drops a touchdown pass on a perfectly thrown ball from Scott Tolzien. Later he muffs a kickoff, then doesn't realize he needs to hustle after it and get it out of the end zone.

-Tolzien has played reasonably well. Paul Chryst has done a good job of getting Garrett Graham open, and Scotty has found his tight end.

-That doesn't really matter if we can't get the running game going. I can't think of one run thus far that has indicated we're ready to bust out. And this isn't Iowa or Ohio State we're playing against here, it's Mike Hankwitz stopping us with smoke and mirrors.

-We've had absolutely no pass rush so far, so while you can say our defensive backs have been clueless, Mike Kafka has had all day to find his guys.

-Poor special teams again. We allow their slow kickoff return guy to take one back into our territory, untouched except for a pathetic tackle attempt. Brad Nortman booms a coffin corner punt almost out of Northwestern's end zone. Anderson's muff.

-On Twitter our guy Randy Kessler commented that he hates Wayne Larrivee. If he weren't the Packers' radio guy I'd hate him 100% of the time, too, now I tolerate him for three hours on Sundays. Pair him with Chris Martin, terrible all the time but even more annoying calling a game with his alma mater, Northwestern, and when we're playing poorly ... it's tough to listen to.

-Seeing the see of red at Northwestern's high school stadium (Jim Polzin estimates that in his sight line it's 80-20 UW-NU fans, although he can't see a large portion of the stands) made me feel good, but if I was with my fellow Badger fans right now I would be incredibly upset for having made the drive.

I was trying to figure out what this does for our bowl prospects, but right now I'd be better off going to help Jana paint our laundry room. We're going with a very bright yellow, in case you're interested.

UW-Michigan box score thoughts

Had a few minutes to look over the detailed box score of the win over Michigan, and here's what stood out:

-Scott Tolzien averaged 15 yards per completion, vs. 9.2 yards for Michigan's QBs. Our passing game isn't just dinking and dunking and tossing it to the backs in the flat, it's picking up big chunks of yardage at a time.

-Our time of possession edge was 35:49 to 24:11. In the fourth quarter it was 12:02 to 2:58. For the year our averaged is 33:15 to 26:45. I love that.

-Piggybacking on that, John Clay went over 1,000 yards Saturday, which makes five straight seasons we've had a 1,000-yard rusher. This following two non-1,000-yard years after a 10-year run. Don't know why, but that streak was always really important to me, it epitomized what Wisconsin football was all about under Barry Alvarez and how it should always be. A streak like that is dependent upon featured backs staying healthy -- if Anthony Davis had stayed healthy this streak would be at 17 straight years -- but it shows that we value the run and always have good lines who can lead the way for our backs.

-I know it was just one run, but let me say again that Zach Brown looked very good on his one carry, for 12 yards. Is Montee Ball really that much better than him right now? Between the tackles, maybe, but Brown can get around the corner. Was his concussion fairly serious, or has the staff just not gotten over his fumbling?

-Nick Toon is averaging 15.1 yards per catch right now, that's pretty darn good.

-Thought Isaac Anderson looked pretty good on kickoff returns, better than David Gilreath has looked this year, although he still did a little too much stutter stepping.

-Chris Borland led us with 11 tackles, had 1.5 tackles for loss and half a sack, forced a fumble and had a QB hurry. And his performance didn't stick out one bit. Has he already gotten so good and so consistent that we're taking him for granted?

-Blake Sorensen was second in tackles with seven. His play has been quietly solid this year, much better than I expected.

-O'Brien Schofield with seven tackles, two hurries, a TFL and half a sack. Great way to cap his home career. Same for Jae McFadden, with six tackles and 2.5 TFLs.

-And let's hear it once again for Jeff Stehle, who had two TFLs and a sack in his last home game. He, Dan Moore and Patrick Butrym have really been decent at a position I figured would be a major weakness for us this year.

This Badger team won't go down in history as one of the best ever, but every week it's fun to look at these box scores and see different guys stepping in and contributing.

UW-Michigan thoughts

That was exactly the second half we were looking for! I could not be more pleased with the win -- defense played well enough, offense was in control when the game mattered, lots of guys got involved. Always good to beat Michigan, which will probably be back at some point in the near future. They've got some good playmakers, but a lot of holes on defense and in the running game.

Most points ever against Michigan? I'll take that.

-I was hard on Scott Tolzien for his first half performance. He was brilliant in the second half. Helped, of course, by the fact that he had all day to throw and his receivers were wide open. Nick Toon had another career day, Isaac Anderson was open time and again, and Garrett Graham delivered the performance we expect from him. Lance Kendricks made a really nice, athletic play on his touchdown reception. We'll give the passing game a B, but an A+ for the second half.

-John Clay won't go down as the top star of this game, but had another very good day. As I Tweeted late in the game, who is a better candidate for Big Ten offensive player of the year than him? Montee Ball got a lot of good reps, and Zach Brown had one very nice run. Reassuring to see the running back depth that our offensive needs. A- for the run game.

-So let's give props to the offensive line for the job they did protecting Tolzien in the second half and for run blocking, excellent job fellas. Jake Bscherer must have done a good job replacing Josh Oglesby. Gabe Carimi was called for two holds, one of which was a terrible call in which he had whipped his guy and the guy just twisted and fell.

-Hard to pick one guy on defense, but a lot of guys were solid. Niles Brinkley made a nice pick that should help his confidence. Devin Smith's coverage improved as the game went on. Jae McFadden had some nice player early in the second half. The Big Ten Network crew named O'Brien Schofield the defensive player of the game, he did most of his damage early.

-It's sort of incredible that we haven't allowed a Big Ten opponent to rush for 100 yards this year. Coming into the season that figured to be a weakness, with two new defensive tackles and two new linebackers. But that unit has obviously been excellent, and our success has stemmed from there.

One more Big Ten team to go, and Northwestern is always tricky. But we've guaranteed a winning conference record in a rebuilding year. The senior class that played its last home game today deserves a lot of credit for that.

Last year the Michigan game was the lowest of lows for the Badgers and their fans. This year the Michigan game is a reason for us to smile and enjoy life in red.

UW-Michigan halftime thoughts

The only reason this game is close is because of our self-inflicted wounds: Scott Tolzien's interception and his fumble Michigan returned for a fumble. Then again, they ran into our punter and had a field goal blocked, so neither team has played a spotless half.

What bothers me is something Big Ten Network analyst Chris Martin said at one point: Michigan is playing with a greater sense of urgency than we are. He was right. Michigan is fired up, we are methodical. They need to win to become bowl eligible, and they aren't going to get that win against Ohio State. We need this win to keep hopes of a 10-win regular season alive, but we're not playing like it.

-Tolzien is carving up Michigan's pass defense when he has time to throw. Their pass coverage is truly putrid, Nick Toon and Garrett Graham have been wide open a lot. Michigan does have a decent pass rush, and Brandon Graham is as good as advertised. We need to double-team him, or chip him with a tight end or back at least, because Tolzien will make plays if Graham doesn't get to him.

-We also haven't done much in the run game yet, need to pound John Clay more. From my living room, Clay was absolutely not in the end zone on that touchdown, and I'm really surprised the refs didn't overturn that call. The end-around to Lance Kendricks worked nicely again.

-Conversely, Garrett Graham was called for holding on an end-around to David Gilreath. Without having stats in front of me, I'm pretty sure Graham has been called for holding more than any of our linemen this year.

-Toon is really coming on, isn't he? Can't wait to see what he and Tolzien can do together next year.

-Huge play by J.J. Watt on the blocked field goal. It's interesting that Michigan took a delay of game penalty to try and get its kicker a better angle for the kick, but we declined it. Not sure whether or not that played into the result of that kick, but it's worth taking a look at.

-Our run defense has been solid so far. Jeff Stehle probably just played his best half of football as a Badger, in his last home game. O'Brien Schofield has had a decent game thus far as well.

Problem is, when we don't pressure Tate Forcier quickly, he's carving us up. His receivers are wide open more often than not, and he's finding them. That kid's a good player, the word is he's been in decline lately but he hasn't shown it today.

My buddy Jim Polzin just noted on Twitter that Michigan has been outscored 75-12 in the second half of its last three games. That's encouraging, but Indiana had a recent history of second half collapses and outplayed us then in our game last week. Have to go out and make it happen, not just sit around waiting for them to implode.

UW-Indiana box score

Thoughts from the Wisconsin-Indiana box score:

-As much as Indiana shredded our pass defense, here's an interesting stat: we averaged 17.6 yards per completion to Indiana's 12.6. On 11 attempts, that's a pretty good day for Scott Tolzien.

-If we get through a game with a roughly 5:2 run-pass ratio, we're usually going to win.

-Time of possession advantage for Badgers: 33:45 to 26:15.

-Interesting punter comparison: Brad Nortman's gross average was 44.2 to Chris Hagerup's 37.8, but Hagerup's net average was 37.0 yards to Nortman's 32.5. Touchbacks will do that to a guy. Nortman's solid, I'm not complaining, but he can work on his coffin corner touch.

-Just one end around called today, a week after Lance Kendricks ran it so well and a year after David Gilreath ran it so well against Indiana. The fake end around was employed regularly.

-No surprise that Chris Borland led the team in tackles with nine, including one for loss and his incredible interception. But Devin Smith was second with eight, an indication of how often Indiana passed. Interestingly enough I don't remember a single play Smith was involved in.

-Will Patterson led Indiana with 10 tackles, but Montee Ball flat run over him on his second touchdown run. That's a true freshman running over a senior thought to be one of the best linebackers in the conference. The future is bright for that one.

-Indiana's defense is not good, and most of their key players are seniors. Besides Patterson, there's Greg Middleton and Jammie Kirlew, who were rendered non-factors by Gabe Carimi, Josh Oglesby and Jake Bscherer. It's hard to see the Hoosiers getting considerably better any time soon.

-Jay Valai had a tackle for loss and pass breakup, and was generally more noticeable today than in most other games this year. Which got me thinking: he's making less highlight reel plays, but he's also whiffing on tackles less often. Overall, his play has been solid, as has that of Chris Maragos, which has helped as our young cornerbacks have had their ups and downs finding their way on the edge.

UW-Indiana thoughts

What else can you think about this but, "Whew"? Glad we won, but that was far from the dominant four-quarter effort we should have shown against an inferior opponent in front of a crowd smaller than one you'd see at a Texas high school game.

First, give Indiana credit. They did some nice things in the passing game. Their defense got better in the second half, although it got better when our all-conference running back went to the sideline.

But we made enough plays to win on the road. Can't be too upset about that.

-Offensive MVP? How about Nick Toon. He had five catches for 123 yards, and his last two were huge. The long one set up Montee Ball's second touchdown run. The last one came on third down on a poorly-thrown ball by Scott Tolzien. If Toon doesn't make that catch, Indiana gets the ball back with a ton of momentum. Great game by Nick.

-Defensive MVP? Chris Borland is obviously top of mind; his pick in the third quarter thwarted a nice Indiana drive. But that play was made posibble by O'Brien Schofield, who hit Ben Chappell as he was throwing. Borland's stat line may be more robust, but OB came up with big plays at crucial times. What a year.

-That said, on the whole our pass rush was lackluster on the day, which is probably why our pass defense was the worst it has been since the Fresno State game. Then again, Indiana put up 24 points at Iowa, far better than we fared against that defense, as well as 28 at Northwestern and 33 at Michigan. So the Hoosiers' offense isn't bad.

-Not listening to the radio broadcast, but haven't heard yet why John Clay didn't play in the second half. He was on the sideline walking around, looked to be mentally with it. Our running game was obviously less effective with him out, but Ball played well in his first extended action -- 115 yards, two touchdowns, good ball security. We need Clay to beat good teams, though.

-Clay's status is obviously of primary concern, but I'm also worried about Josh Oglesby. When he walked off the field after holding his knee, I was optimistic, but he didn't return. He's had a good year, and Jake Bscherer, while probably not a terrible liability, isn't the force in the ground game that Oglesby is.

-I'd give Tolzien a C for his play today. Against a pass defense that bad, 194 yards isn't that hot. If his receivers hang on to those two well-thrown balls that they dropped, his numbers are significantly better. And he didn't take any sacks. Bottom line: he didn't do anything to lose the game for the Badgers, which was just what we needed today.

So Iowa loses to Northwestern, Michigan loses again, at home to the team we beat 37-0 last week. We'll see what it all means for Wisconsin after the Penn State-Ohio State game tonight. A top-flight bowl game remains a possibility.

What to make of Indiana?

Is it just me, or do the Badgers make you feel a little bit like the old Lou Holtz every week? We're winning, but every week I look at our opponent and see mainly their positives and the ways they could beat us, not the opposite. And we're not overwhelming enough to erase all doubt in the outcome of a game before the opening kickoff.

Take Indiana. By all accounts, they're terrible, just as they were last year, and almost every year in the past two decades. But they scare me.

They were in position to beat Michigan at the end of their Big Ten opener. They were up big on Northwestern but collapsed. They led the best team in the conference on the road in the fourth quarter but collapsed.

So they're close week after week, but can't finish. This week they could play us tough from the start but finally finish. Or this could be the week that the emotional toll of close loss after close loss catches up with them and they get blown out.

This shouldn't come as a surprise, but in my mind, the best way to blow them out would be to run the ball as often as possible. I loved the first drive against Purdue last week, all runs. Even though Indiana's run defense is better than its pass defense (especially minus Ray Fisher, their best corner), the run defense isn't very good either. Their pass defense is last in the league, but they're third with 14 interceptions and Scotty Tolzien has thrown the ball to the wrong guys at times this year.

Ignoring my inner Lou, I think the Badgers win this one by two touchdowns.

Player development

In the wake of the disappointing 2008 football season, I wrote that perhaps the most alarming trend in the UW program under Bret Bielema's stewardship was the lack of player development. After all, it is likely that our recruiting efforts will always yield more two- and three-star players than four- and five-star, so if we're going to compete in the Big Ten we need to coach our kids up.

With four regular season games and a bowl left this season, it is not premature to say that a number of Badgers have shown significant improvement this season. Two stick out in my mind, one on offense, one on defense.

O'Brien Schofield: Something of an afterthought in a linebacker class that included Travis Beckum, Elijah Hodge and DeAndre Levy, he became a serviceable defensive end, then the best defensive end in the Big Ten. Also the team's vocal and emotional leader. Other guys like Mike Taylor, J.J. Watt, Chris Maragos and Chris Borland have made big plays this season, but Schofield has lived in opponents' backfields from the first defensive possession of the season, and gave hope that a unit that figured to be a weakness might be an asset.

Scott Tolzien: He's regressed a little against better defenses, but his play this year has been a definite upgrade over what we had last year. With lesser quarterback play, we're probably 4-4 at best this season, maybe worse. What's interesting is that Tolzien wasn't ready to play extensively last year, when Dustin Sherer and Allan Evridge disappointed. What happened for Tolzien this offseason? Better coaching? Or did the proverbial light bulb just go on?

What other Badgers have been two-star recruits, per Scout?

Going back to that class of 2005, Jonathan Casillas and P.J. Hill were both two-star recruits who are now on NFL rosters. Jae McFadden and Jeff Stehle were two-star recruits who are starting on a pretty good front seven. Garrett Graham was another two-star guy from that class, but it's hard to say he has developed in his time here since he was pretty good from the minute he started playing. The recruiting experts just missed on that one.

In the class of 2006, Gabe Carimi was a two-star recruit, and he's a future NFL left tackle. Mickey Turner, Isaac Anderson, John Moffitt, Jay Valai, Maurice Moore, Culmer St. Jean -- all two-star guys who have become big contributors to a team that has a chance to win 10 games.

A number of two-star guys who are contributing in their first and second years: Brad Nortman, Antonio Fenelus, Travis Frederick and Borland. That doesn't count Maragos, a walk-on.

Going through the lists, there aren't many guys who stick out like Schofield and Tolzien, who toiled in obscurity for several years before emerging as team leaders. The rest of these guys have just improved enough to play important roles on an above-average team. And that, not statistics or individual honors, is really the only way we will be able to gauge player development under Bielema: wins and losses.

Purdue

Here's an interesting fact: According to Athlon's season preview magazine, Purdue signed 21 players in its 2009 recruiting class. Fourteen of them are from Florida. Zero of them are from Indiana.

Interesting, no? True, new coach Danny Hope is from Florida and has strong ties there, and there are a lot of athletes down there. It makes sense to mine that place for talent, as we're doing. But geez, Indiana has some players too, and it doesn't make sense to concede all of them to IU, Notre Dame, Michigan, etc. Given the statue of IU, maybe it makes sense for us to get in on that.

Two weeks ago, this game seemed like a cakewalk to me. Then Purdue beat Ohio State, we collapsed against Iowa, and this looks a lot tougher.

Still, it's a game we should win. Frankly, we should be favored to win all five of our remaining regular season games. But, just as frankly, we could lose any of them. It's just that type of team.

We've got to to come out and run John Clay. Repeatedly. PU has the ninth-best rush defense in the Big Ten. Pound the rock.

Of course, Paul Chryst possessing a superior offensive football mind to mine, it wouldn't shock me to see us come out with Scott Tolzien winging the ball around. Especially since starting seems to give Clay the heebie-jeebies.

We'll be in Madison today, hoping to catch Kids Day the the Kohl. Tomorrow I'll be taking Will to his first Badger game. We've been practicing by attending high school games just down the street from our house. Wish me luck!

Wisconsin-Iowa thoughts

Today's proceedings at Camp Randall have left me feeling livid. Livid!

This is the first time this year that I have been truly disappointed in this team, and in this program. Because make no mistake about it: the results of today's game prove that Iowa has a program far superior to ours.

Not superior players, mind you. Their offensive skill position players are pedestrian at best, ours are more talented. Their quarterback still doesn't impress me -- he just threw the ball to wide-open players. They have a good defense, but as we showed in the first half, it's not impossible to move the ball on them.

And yet ... they dominated the second half today and go home winners. Their players' execution was nearly flawless. More importantly, the scheme adjustments they made at halftime were far better than anything we did.

Think about it: in the first half, we were running the ball for 5-7 yards a pop. There were big holes. On passing plays, we had guys open, and Scott Tolzien found them.

In the second half, with basically the same guys on the field (forget Garrett Graham's injury -- while he's obviously an important part of our offense, the results would have been the same with him) we created no holes, our receivers were double covered, and Tolzien threw it to the guys in white jerseys.

Defensively we were no less disappointing. For all the raves about Moeaki, definitely a good player, if Antonio Fenelus can't run with a tight end, we've got problems. Their running back will probably win praise, but he got his yards when our defense lost its focus and composure.

And when the defense did make a big play to give the offense a chance to score without actually moving the ball, Philip Welch shanks the kick right. We've gone from field goal kicking seeming like a definite strength at the season's beginning to being an uncertainty at best, a liability at worst.

Near the end of the game, when they were having their way with us, this thought occurred to me: It's like we weren't even on the field in the second half. Iowa did whatever they wanted.

Every time the cameras cut to Kirk Ferentz on the sideline, so calm and in control, I thought, "Man, I wish that guy was our coach, and his staff our staff." It's not the first time I've thought that way. But this year, when the Big Ten is truly up for grabs, if we had superior leadership like Iowa we could be pricing plane tickets for Pasadena now. Instead we're looking at what, San Antonio? No shame in that, but in years where the traditional Big Ten powers show vulnerability, we've got to be ready to take advantage. This year, we're not quite there.

Remember what I wrote at halftime?

"While I'm happy with the proceedings thus far, I also remember Barry Alvarez's last game in 2005, when we were up by a similar score at halftime and got dominated by Iowa in the second half. They make good halftime adjustments. Let's hope our coaches can do the same."

Unfortunately, today was a carbon copy of 2005. That loss left me feeling similarly upset and disappointed. But that year, we rebounded to beat Hawaii and then Auburn in a bowl, definitely a great ending to what ended up being a very nice season. Purdue is looking better than I figured, we'll have to bring it in two weeks. Let's hope our players and coaches take the week off to figure out how to be more like Iowa.

UW-Iowa halftime thoughts

Not too much to complain about in the first half, we played well. Offense moved the ball fairly regularly, but Iowa's excellent defenders made some plays you'd expect them to make. Our defense was tight, with the exception of the one long pass play. I'd much rather be up two scores.

-Horrible kickoff coverage again to start the game. Iowa's Wegher looked like he was running in sand, but he still got it out past the 40. A Twitter post noted that we seemed to have more defensive regulars on the unit on subsequent kickoffs -- good move.

-J.J. Watt has been excellent coming off both edges, and O'Brien Schofield has continued adding to his honors resume. We need them to keep making those plays in the second half of the game, and the season.

-Mike Taylor gets hurt, and who's around the ball making plays? Chris Borland, of course. He's awesome. Hope Taylor's injury isn't too bad.

-John Clay was really running well before he got hurt, showing nice patience and vision. The offensive line has looked really good on running plays, the last one being Montee Ball's touchdown run -- great execution. Ball is looking like a guy we can trust.

-On his first punt return, David Gilreath doesn't call fair catch and gets drilled by a gunner with a running start. On Iowa's next punt, he doesn't catch it and the Hawkeeys get 15-20 yards in favorable bounces. Not only is our punt return game not a positive right now, it's a liability.

-I had just finished praising Jay Valai to my dad -- how he's had less highlight hits this year but also less major miscues -- when he seemed to be out of position on Iowa's long pass play. Can't say for sure without seeing the film or knowing the coverage call, though, so it may not have been his fault.

-Why put Curt Phillips in? Scott Tolzien was coming off his best drive throwing the ball, and we follow that up with a three-and-out. True, Curt looked good on his keeper run and was a shoestring tackle away from breaking it. And since Phillips hadn't played in a couple weeks it's not likely Iowa spent any time preparing for him. But it was a curious decision at the time.

While I'm happy with the proceedings thus far, I also remember Barry Alvarez's last game in 2005, when we were up by a similar score at halftime and got dominated by Iowa in the second half. They make good halftime adjustments. Let's hope our coaches can do the same.