It appeared the weather was not the only thing to improve after the game against UNLV, when the Badgers failed to score a touchdown in a 23-5 loss. Wisconsin came out Saturday and were greeted with clear blue skies as they beat North Carolina, 38-27. UW improved its record to 3-1 as it prepares for the Big Ten opener against Illinois.
Although the rain stayed away, when the opening kickoff was returned 97 yards for a North Carolina touchdown, the boos from the crowd made it seem as though nothing had changed in the last week. But Wisconsin bounced back despite the absence of junior running back Anthony Davis, still sidelined with a sprained ankle.
UW tied the game on the team's second drive with a touchdown by freshman running back Booker Stanley, his first of three for the day.
The Badgers would never trail for the remainder of the game with an offensive plan that was much improved from the week before. Senior quarterback Jim Sorgi recovered after last week's poor showing,. Sorgi completed 12 of 20 passes, including a 44-yard pass to senior wide receiver Lee Evans that was capped by a touchdown in the second quarter bringing the score to 21-14.
Evans had receptions for 80 yards and one touchdown. The five receptions surpassed Al Toon in career pass receptions.
During the second half, Sorgi seemed to recover from two receptions in the first half, including one in the red zone. His 60 percent completion is the second time he's posted that high of a number, the last time was three years ago when he was 21-29 against Purdue.
??\I think I responded well especially to the diversity we went through last week and a couple of the mistakes I made last week,"" Sorgi said. ""I corrected them and I came out and felt like I was in control of the offense.""
The story of the game had to be Stanley, who saw his first significant playing time Saturday. Along with three touchdowns, he also rushed for over 100 yards.
""I can't say enough about Booker Stanley, our third tailback coming in and the first time he has ever had any extended playing time, and he carries the team,"" Head Coach Barry Alvarez said. ""We wanted to establish the run, and what a tremendous job he did.""
Wisconsin took to the ground a lot more than in the previous game. After rushing for 139 yards on 42 attempts, the Badgers came close to rushing for almost 100 more yards in Saturday's game. On 50 attempts, the Badgers racked up 224 yards.
""When we went into this game, we wanted to establish the run,"" Alvarez said. ""We wanted to keep our defense off the field and their offense off the field as much as we could.""
There were a few areas that remained a concern, which Alvarez said the team is working on before heading to Champaign, Ill. on Saturday, most importantly, special teams. The Badgers allowed an average of 41 yards on kick-off returns. Also, an area of concern is the kicking game.
""I'd like to be further along than we are,"" Alvarez said. ""We just have some things we need to clean up. We do some good things, but we're still very inconsistent ... I'm not satisfied where we are. We're going to have to do a lot of work this week.""
