An early display from the Wisconsin football team was in full swing Saturday afternoon at Camp Randall Stadium, where the spring workouts concluded with an annual game featuring largely the first team against second team on both sides of the ball.
The Cardinal team, comprising mostly first-stringers, edged the White, 19-14, in a match-up that included four 15-minute quarters. The rules were such that each White team score counted as twice the normal number of points. Tackling was live—excluding the quarterback—and each possession began at the 30-yard-line, except for turnovers. Punts were fair caught.
New head coach Bret Bielema made his sideline debut in front of a crowd of 10,139, and expressed satisfaction afterwards with the 15 spring workouts.
I need to have daily improvement in everything we do, and I basically felt throughout the entire spring that we did do that,\ he said.
With nine minutes remaining in the first quarter, White got the first score of the game. Playing a zone defense, senior defensive back Zach Hampton read a ""dig"" route on a pass from junior quarterback John Stocco, wrestled the ball away from junior receiver Paul Hubbard and ran 59 yards for a touchdown.
""I saw open field and I didn't think anybody was going to catch me,"" said Hampton, who had one interception last year and is making the transition from safety to cornerback. ""It felt good. It felt real good. It was fun.""
On the ensuing drive, Cardinal cut the deficit in half, going 70 yards in five plays. Senior running back Dywon Rowan, competing for playing time at a position vacated by second team All-American Brian Calhoun, capped the drive with a two-yard run.
The Cardinal team then evened the score with less than five minutes remaining in the first half. Junior Jamil Walker finished a 13 play, 87-yard drive with a nine-yard rush.
The second half, relatively uneventful compared to the first, was marked by two Cardinal scores. A face-mask penalty that occurred in the end-zone in the third quarter led to a safety, and junior kicker Taylor Mehlhaff added a 41-yard field goal in the fourth for the final points.
Afterward, Bielema, the youngest Division I-A head coach in the country, at 36, said he was encouraged by the team's progress.
""I think as far as our team, there are certain guys that have done certain things to prove to me that they can begin to make those steps at a level that they need to going into the opening game,"" he said. ""It's great because we have a lot of time to prepare between now and then.""\
