Ok, there was never really any point yesterday where I was confident in the outcome of the game. I felt like the entire last quarter was just waiting for something big to happen. It seemed as though we were just holding on, hoping the clock ran out before we could let anything bad happen.
Luckily, that did happen. But I had an uneasy feeling for much of the second half.
That being said, I was fairly impressed with the Badgers yesterday. Tyler Donovan showed that he hasn't been wasting his time as Stocco's backup.
One thing I hadn't thought about going into this game is that Donovan spent the entire pre-season working with the first team, since John Stocco had minor knee surgery just a few weeks before the first game. Clearly that time taking snaps with the 1st stringers made a difference. Both Donovan and the offense looked comfortable with Donovan being at the helm and I can't imagine that being the case had they not spent that time working during pre-season.
P.J. Hill definitely raised some eyebrows with his lack of ability to hold on to the ball. I'm reserving judgment on this particular situation, since he's had wonderful control of the ball for the rest of the season. But he's not off the hook yet...
It was wonderful to be on ESPN and have a decent announcing core whom we could understand and who imparted actually informative knowledge throughout the broadcast.
A few of the tidbits:
Coming into this game, UW had given up just 3 passing TDs all year, the best in the country
On the season, UW was allowing an average of 5.7 points per game in the second half. That average dropped to 2.4 points per game over the five games before Saturday.
The average size of Wisconsin's offensive line is larger than the average of the O-Line on any team in the NFL.
With yesterday's win, Bret Bielema became the first coach in Big Ten history to win 10 games in his first year.
All in all, that game could have been a lot uglier. It definitely made me a little uneasy at points, but that has a lot to do with my high expectations. Since this team has been so successful, it's easy to forget that they are young and that they have far exceeded anyone's expectations. It's a bit early to be able to decide whether or not this season was serendipitous, or if it's the status quo.
In the meantime, I'll be reveling in our top ten ranking.
(Which, by the way, is absolutely unreal. Absolutely no one would have believed you if you'd told them before the season that this would happen. This is a team that was without a RB and who's receiver core, total, had caught 3 passes in actual games.)
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