The bottom line is that the No. 9 UW football team (1-0 Big Ten, 4-0 overall) has four wins in as many games. However, drops in the polls over the last couple of weeks signify how those four games have gone.
We're still ranked pretty high right now,"" junior linebacker Jonathan Casillas said. ""I think we dropped in the polls, but when you're ranked high and a team comes into your home, they're thinking upset, so they're going to play to that.""
""They're [opposing teams] going to come in with their 'A' game and we just got to be ready for that.""
The ways in which UW has won has been a shocking trend that has emerged early in the season. All four games UW has played have been much closer than anticipated, especially for a team that has been ranked in the top-10 all season, including a one-week stint at No. 5.
""That's just an experience, we've been in that situation before [and] we know we can get out of it,"" sophomore running back P.J. Hill said. ""That's what good teams do. We're a good team so we find ways to win. It's not that we always have the cleanest performance, but we find ways to win.""
One of those not-so-clean performances came when UW took to the road where they encountered a feisty and shifty UNLV team. Playing with a ""nothing to lose"" mentality, the Rebels were ahead late in the game before UW senior quarterback Tyler Donovan scored on a naked bootleg play, which gave the Badgers the lead for good.
The Citadel, which was a major underdog, matched UW blow for blow in the first half before finally losing ground to the cardinal and white as the game wore on. Nevertheless, the scare generated some sweaty palms among the Badger faithful.
Finally, the Big Ten season kicked off against the rival Hawkeyes of Iowa.
The Badgers were only one determined fourth-quarter touchdown drive, two crucial third down conversions and a slightly overthrown ball from Iowa quarterback Jake Christensen away from possibly seeing themselves 0-1 in the conference and labeled as a disappointment.
""We're playing pretty good, but we can't be complacent,"" UW freshmen defensive back Aaron Henry said. ""You are playing in the Big Ten conference, this is for a Big Ten title.""
With the way the Badgers held on for that victory, as well as the other three previous games, the realization set in that no matter how highly ranked you are, on any given Saturday, anybody can beat anybody.
Nevertheless, UW could look at these early games as learning experiences.
""Once you play in a lot of tight ball games and you win them, you kind of get used to getting in that rhythm,"" Casillas said.
""So later in the season, if it's a bigger game or you got a home game or a rivalry game or something like that [magnitude], in a fourth-quarter game you know how to respond to it.
