In his weekly press conference on Monday, football head coach Bret Bielema discussed the Badgers' state as a team, as well as the team's upcoming game against Purdue.
Bielema began by addressing the injuries accrued in the Badgers' previous game against Iowa. Bielema expects that all players who were injured against Iowa, including senior tight end Lance Kendricks and freshman running back James White, to play on Saturday.
Bielema then addressed how he plans to get his team focused again coming off a bye week.
""To me, the very important thing is to stay fresh,"" Bielema said. ""As coaches, idle time is sometimes a time when coaches can get overly creative and do things that are out of their norm … just stick with the plan, I think that's what we'll do.""
Wisconsin is now ranked No. 7 in both the AP Top 25 and the USA Today Poll. Additionally, the team is ranked No. 9 in the BCS rankings. With the possibility of a BCS bowl looming, many fans are wondering how Bielema is keeping his team focused for their next opponent each week.
""If we don't take care of our business this week, it's all for naught,"" Bielema said. ""I think this group probably gets that better than years past, that the reason they're in the position they're in is they've taken it one week at a time. We didn't talk about Ohio State till we got to Ohio State. We didn't talk about Iowa till we got to Iowa. It's the same reason we're gonna carry forward that thinking with Purdue.""
Bielema also covered the team's upcoming game this weekend against Purdue.
The Boilermakers (2-2 Big Ten, 4-4 overall) come into this game on a two game losing streak, with losses to Ohio State and Illinois by a combined score of 93-10.
Purdue is known to have a solid front four, led by senior defensive end and NFL prospect Ryan Kerrigan. Kerrigan has totaled 49 total tackles so far, with 7.5 sacks and 18.5 tackles for loss.
""Still to this day, I think that Ryan Kerrigan, their defensive end, is one of the premiere players in our league,"" Bielema said. ""Their d-line really plays hard. Bruce Gaston, their starting defensive end, we wanted him bad. We really recruited him hard.""
Purdue runs a spread offense, a system that places the quarterback in the shotgun with 3, 4 or 5 receiver sets. The Badgers have not faced this type of offense this year, but Bielema believes that the key to beating Purdue will be the same key to beating Ohio State or Iowa.
Bielema said that some things, like tackling, will be even more critical this week.
""Defensively, we've got to tackle well, probably now more than ever because in spread offenses they create one on one spacing, so that's a big difference in this game,"" Bielema said.
This game will be the 77th meeting between Wisconsin and Purdue, with Wisconsin leading the series 39-29-8. Wisconsin has won the last four meetings between the teams, winning the last two by a combined score of 61-3.
