The Badgers are now eligible for a bowl bid.  The win, a close game against.....assures a shot at playing in the post season.  A win against Cal Poly will put the Badgers in a better bowl option.

This Saturday the Wisconsin Badgers will face the strange "flex" defense of Cal Poly.  When you look at the film of Cal Poly, it seems that there are gaps in the line.  Those gaps are filled instantly, and that confuses the offense as the play develops.  This "flex" defense allows pressure to come from all fronts.  Cal Poly is a top ranked team in their division when playing against the run. 

When the Badgers face Cal Poly this coming Saturday, they must use their size to wear down the smaller, faster defensive opponents.  Cal Poly chose speed over size when putting this defense together. 

Wisconsin wide receivers should have a good day against this team.  They rank below the top 100 against the pass.  It sounds like they are "all in" against the run, and weak against the pass.  The Badgers, a run dominating team will have their work cut out for them.

The Badgers trounced Indiana 55-20 this past weekend.  At the half, the game was close.  By the end, the game was a runaway for Wisconsin.  The rushing record of 441 yards for Wisconsin tied the school record.  The seven rushing touchdowns for the Badgers was also a record tying event.

David Gilreath gained 168 yards for the game.  He had two touchdowns in the contest.

P.J. Hill ran for three touchdowns gaining 126 yards.  His teammate John Clay piled up 112 yards, and ran for one touchdown.  In total, the Badgers had three players with over one hundred yards each.

The game broke open for the Badgers in the second half.  Indiana was held to just over fifty yards, while the Badgers ran up 321 in that same time.  Indiana's quarterback never made it to the field in the second half, and the Badgers took advantage of that fact. Bret Bielema saw an opportunity to run against Indiana.  Early in the third quarter David Gilreath peeled off a 90 yard run.  Six minutes later, Philip Welch had a 39 yard run for a touchdown.  Bret was right on the money with that plan.  The running touchdowns crushed the hopes of Indiana.

The big plays made for great highlights, and it put Wisconsin up by fourteen points.

Three more rushing touchdowns, and the Badgers rout was on.  This was the second Big Ten win for Wisconsin, who now have a 5-5 record overall. 

When the Wisconsin Badgers pulled ahead by eleven points, some of us thought that they were going to pull out the upset of the year.  22^nd ranked Michigan State was on the ropes.  The running performances of both P.J. Hill and John Clay put the Badgers in position to win.  The Badgers defense stuffed the run game.

Unfortunately, a series of mistakes, some of which rest squarely on the shoulders of Bret Bielema brought it all crashing down. 

Was it the choice to punt late in the fourth quarter, rather than try a field goal to go up by six points?  Was it the penalties?  Was it the blown coverage on the last Michigan State drive?  As always, it was a combination of everything.

We got no lucky breaks at the end.  The Spartans fought their way back, and won it with a field goal in the last four seconds of the game.  They didn't rush the field in Michigan because they just defeated a non-ranked team. 

Wisconsin halted their four game losing streak, and they did it against a team known for scoring early and often.  The Badgers scored 27 points, and pulled down three interceptions.  At the half, the score was tied.  Illinois had the lead 17-10 in the third quarter, when Dustin Sherer hooked found Gilreath in the middle of the field.  Gilreath dodged the defense in that catch and crossed into the end zone.  That 49 yard play was Gilreath's longest of the season. 

The Badger defense allowed only 221 passing yards for the day.  That number was over 120 yards below Juice Williams' average.  Wisconsin stuffed the run all day long, kept the passing in check, and kept the opponent in front of them.  There were very few downhill plays for the Badgers defense.

Dustin Sherer kept key drives alive with short passes, and a touchdown run of his own. 

He finished the day completing 12 of 21 passes, for a total of 221 yards.  He threw two TD passes on top of his own rushing touchdown. Wisconsin running back John Clay piled up 88 yards. 

Badgers fans hope that this is the spark that keeps the team winning throughout the year.

The Wisconsin Badgers have yet to win a Big Ten game.  Sadly, the loss to Iowa will probably be one of many more to come.

When a team can run up 220 yards on you, the problems are deep and many.  Shonn Greene was slashing and dodging the Badgers defense.  Although Wisconsin had the ball for a majority of the time, that did not mean a thing.  Iowa did not need all that time to score touchdown after touchdown. 

A pair of Wisconsin quarterbacks combined for three interceptions in that game.  The turnovers killed The Badgers yet again. 

Iowa did not turn the ball over in the game.  Perhaps Barry needs to come back and coach this team. Bret put together a great defense when he was coordinator.  Something happened in between that time.  The porous defense might have trouble stopping Cal Poly, let alone another Big Ten team. 

Team building is all that Wisconsin should focus on.  Wins may come after that, but for now the men need to work together to find a way to tackle. 

On the offensive side of the ball, Dustin Sherer will start as quarterback against Illinois.  Yes, he threw two interceptions in the Iowa game, but Bielma thinks he will make up for that.  The team has not scored more than 17 points in a Big Ten game.  It cannot get much worse, unless your record ends up as 1-7 in the Big ten. 

P.J. Hill injured his leg in the Iowa game, and he may not play this week.  X-rays revealed nothing broken, but he is certainly in pain.

Mario Goins is recovering from a concussion, but is expected to play.