The Badgers are not likely to get too worked up over tomorrow's game at home against Northwestern. They don't have much to prove, as a win this weekend would not prove much of anything.
Wisconsin blew out Indiana 52-17 this past weekend, as you may remember (and as Indiana's secondary surely cannot forget), but they may put on an encore performance this week against yet another over-matched Big Ten opponent.
The Wildcats are winless in the conference, and hapless in the truest sense of the word. Their record is 2-3, but the wins came against Miami (OH) and Eastern Michigan, and one of their three losses—by far, the worst—was to the University of New Hampshire.
It's clear that Northwestern isn't a strong team, but if history is any indication—and the institution of sports journalism would suggest that it is—the Wildcats could, for the third consecutive year, embrace the underdog role and beat a more talented Wisconsin team.
The difference between the past two years and this one, however, is that Northwestern had an experienced quarterback in Bret Basanez, who had just about everything to do with their deceptively lethal offense. They began the season with Mike Kafka under center, a freshman quarterback who threw five interceptions and just one touchdown through four games. Then they gave Andrew Brewer a chance, another freshman whose youth showed last week against Penn State.
Northwestern's inexperience at quarterback is a rather severe problem as far as the Wildcats are concerned, considering Wisconsin's confidence is in its signal-caller, and his opportunity to complete passes downfield at will.
Senior quarterback John Stocco doesn't have to put up Heisman numbers again this week for the Badgers to win, but he probably will anyway. Wisconsin's runing game is consistently formidable while their passing game, to this point, is not. The young receivers could certainly use a little more confidence, so offensive coordinator Paul Chryst will likely call their numbers with regularity, giving them not just game experience, but play-making experience.
For the second week in a row, the Badgers can focus primarily on two things: cultivating young talent on offense, and staying healthy. Health is the main objective, however, considering the fact that any progress made in the passing game is progress recorded on film—which, naturally, Minnesota will review at great length before they invade Madison next Saturday.
Therefore it is also possible that the Badgers could be strategically coy, and frustratingly conservative, falling considerably short of their 52 points last week. But this is no reason to worry, or for that matter, to complain—this week or next—if the result is a win. Ultimately, that's all they are really going for.
