It was a Pyrrhic victory of sorts for the Wisconsin Badgers football team Saturday afternoon. The improbable come- from-behind 38-34 win over the Gophers in Minneapolis saw a miraculous blocked punt by freshman linebacker Jonathan Casillas and an ensuing fumble recovery by sophomore defensive back Ben Strickland in the end zone for the go ahead touchdown with just 30 seconds remaining.
But the third Big Ten win of the season for the Badgers (6-1, 3-1), which vaulted them into a first place conference tie with Penn State and Iowa, did not come without losses as well.
Junior defensive end Joe Monty sustained a season ending knee injury in the game, adding to an already injury-riddled line. Monty will join sophomore end Jamal Cooper and sophomore tackle Justin Ostrowski on the injured list, both of whom suffered knee injuries earlier in the year.
Freshman defensive tackle Jason Chapman also gimped off the turf over the weekend with an ankle injury, but head coach Barry Alvarez did not deem it serious.
\We are going to have to be creative,"" Alvarez said of his hobbled defensive line at his weekly press conference Monday afternoon. ""You lose three right away (at the outset of the season) and to have those injuries this past weekend, it's hard. But we have to find answers.""
With heavy losses up front, many players saw their playing time increase markedly. Freshman Gino Cruse tallied more than 40 snaps, and Matthew Shaughnessy, a 225 pound true freshman, played every down, earning praise from Alvarez.
""He [Shaughnessy] was getting double teamed from the first to the last snap, chased guys down. Unbelievable how he played.""
With a depleted corps on the line, Alvarez still balked at the idea of removing a redshirt from a freshman. Instead, he said freshman Mike Newkirk and sophomore Brandon Kelly would have the opportunity to contribute more.
Alvarez even intimated that freshman linebacker Travis Beckum, who was tapped as a linebacker out of high school, could see time on the line in certain situations.
Nevertheless, the injury bug does not bode well for the Wisconsin defense, which has given up 724 yards rushing in its last two games. In a matchup against Northwestern two weeks ago, the Wildcats racked up 313 net yards on the ground (7.0 avgerage). Saturday, Laurence Maroney and the Gophers tore through the Badgers for 411 yards (6.5 avgerage).
Alvarez said that the team is in the process of sorting out the issues with the run defense but cautioned against too much criticism, citing the strong offenses the Badgers have recently faced.
""We're going to try to figure that out,"" he said. ""It gets difficult when you keep playing different guys up front and the teams you're playing are pretty good.""
The secondary of Wisconsin has had problems of its own. It had the appearance of a revolving door on Saturday with players shuffling on and off the field throughout the course of the Minnesota game. Senior captain defensive back Brett Bell, who only nine months ago had major knee surgery, was lifted from the game on two occasions, once on blown coverage and the other on a missed tackle.
Despite all the shortcomings on the defensive side of the ball in the past few weeks, Alvarez insists that the Badgers simply cannot dwell on the past.
""I hope our guys are smart enough to focus on this week and only this week,"" he said.
If they don't, they risk ending a 10-game winning streak at Camp Randall and falling short this weekend to Purdue, loser of four straight, but pre-season favorite to win the conference.
Quarterback John Stocco, a junior, seemingly will be in the defense's corner as long as the Badgers win.
""We just want to score one more point than the other team and that is all that matters,"" he said.
