During the week leading up to Saturday's Big Ten opener at No. 6 Michigan, UW head football coach Bret Bielema stressed consistency in all aspects of the team's play, as the defense and offense had yet to put together a complete game this season.
After analyzing the film, Bielema admitted at his Monday press conference that the team had failed in achieving such consistency in its 27-13 loss to the Wolverines, and that a major misstep had surprisingly come from the unit that had previously been a rock for the Badgers.
""Special teams have been a huge emphasis for us, and they'd been a very positive thing for us in the first three games,"" Bielema said. ""Saturday was the first time in my opinion where ... I didn't think we had won in any particular phase [of special teams] for the entire four quarters.""
Senior Zach Hampton's fumbled punt in the second quarter began the unit's struggles, and Michigan senior Steve Breaston persistently poured salt in the wound by averaging 12.9 yards on his nine punt returns. Hampton totaled five yards on his only two returns of the game.
Bielema said the absence of sophomore backup safeties Shane Carter and Aubrey Pleasant, who have both been redshirted because of shoulder injuries, also hurt the special teams of the Badgers.
""Aubrey and Shane basically started in every phase of the kicking game for us in all three games,"" Bielema said. ""The people that took their spots ... it was in reality their first game.""
Another point of inconsistency in Saturday's game was Wisconsin's offense. Senior quarterback John Stocco and freshman running back P.J. Hill impressively led the team down the field for a touchdown early in the first quarter, but the offense otherwise failed to mount much momentum.
""At certain times during a series we were successful, then turned around and tried the same thing later on and weren't able to do it,"" Bielema said. ""A little bit has to do with the way they were able to perform. My hat goes off to Michigan and what they were able to do.""
Of particular concern was a stretch in the second half when the Badgers committed six straight three-and-outs. Bielema said a major problem during the stretch was finding a player to go to on first down, which is a dilemma the team has wrestled with all season.
""It's been seen that P.J. can run the ball on first down, but on the same account he hasn't been 100 percent on his reads,"" Bielema said. ""And if you throw on first down, you gotta have to have pretty good confidence [that the ball will be caught], so it's a little bit of trials and tribulations until we figure that part out.""
As for the defense, the main point of discussion was sophomore cornerback and Michigan-native Allen Langford. Langford was the unit's main story, for better or worse, as he took down two interceptions but also was beaten for two touchdowns by Michigan receiver Mario Manningham.
""[Alan] came up with two picks, both of them were based off of good technique and body position. He'll be the first to tell you on one of those touchdowns he didn't use technique,"" Bielema said. ""I really think that he can take the experiences from Saturday, not only the positive ones but the negative ones, and grow that much more.""
Bielema said there were some long faces at Sunday's practice, but he does not expect the team to deviate from its ""1-0"" mentality.
""The flipside of ‘1-0' is that sometimes when you don't get the win on Saturday, you have to make them quickly understand that if they prepare the same way and execute what we need to Sunday through Friday in preparation for Saturday, then we have an opportunity to go 1-0 again,"" he said. ""And I don't see our guys getting off that track at all.""
The Badgers play at Indiana Saturday.
