Wisconsin comes back to the friendly confines of Camp Randall Stadium Saturday to face tough opposition against Michigan State. In the past month, Wisconsin has lost three games and the other weekend was a bye week for the cardinal and white.
Weeks on inconsistency have plagued the Badgers. When the defense was playing strong, the offense seemed to not be showing up. Moreover, when the offense was playing particularly well, the defense had not been playing up to the same level as the offense.
\It's been kind of that way the whole season; the defense picking us up when we're down and the offense picking up the defense when they're down,"" senior quarterback Jim Sorgi said. ""It's been hard to get that consistency where we're both hitting on all cylinders at the same time. I don't know why that is. It's something you just have to look at.""
Consistency will be the key against Michigan State. The Spartans are currently ranked No. 22 in both the AP and Coaches poll and has outside chance to come away with the Big Ten title this season.
Offensively, Wisconsin looks to mix up the run and the pass like they have in past weeks. Though, last week, when the run was not working well for them, the Badgers tended to fall back on the passing game. Sorgi had a career day against the Gophers as he threw for 305 yards on 23 completions in 34 attempts. He also threw for four touchdowns. All stats are career records for the senior.
""We went in with the idea that we would mix it up. I thought we were more productive throwing the ball than running the ball, consequently we did it more,"" Wisconsin Head Coach Barry Alvarez said. ""You have to be flexible enough to be able to do that and that's depending on how the games going.""
The running game has not had a dominating performance since freshman tailback Booker Stanley ran for 125 yards and a touchdown against the vaulted Ohio State Buckeye rush defense. Junior Anthony Davis has been missing in each of the past four games and has not played a full game this season since his 247 yard performance against Akron Sept. 6.
Last weekend against Northwestern, Alvarez stated earlier that week that Davis was not going to suit up against Northwestern due to his chronic ankle problem this season.
""I think we have a better grasp on what Anthony has. We had a MRI [Nov. 7] so we know what he has and it's going to be Anthony's decision,"" Alvarez said.
Defensively, the Badgers have seen their pass defense exposed by such teams as Purdue and Minnesota. Junior Chuckie Cowans and sophomore LeVonne Rowan have seen most of the time at cornerback for the injured Brett Bell, and sophomore wide receiver Brandon Williams has been seeing some playing time at cornerback on big downs.
""You have to be open-minded and take a look and try to find answers. You always try to find answers,"" Alvarez said. ""Hopefully we'll get some of our injured guys back and some of our young guys take a step forward and we won't have to do that with him.""
Alvarez said that Defensive Coordinator Kevin Cosgrove originally wanted to recruit Williams as a defensive back out of high school, but the team thought his abilities as a wide receiver would better suit the team.
""Some guys have had a couple rough weeks and me included in that throughout the season,"" Sorgi said. ""We're just going to have to do what we have to do. We're in a tough situation, we have to get a couple more wins and we have to do that and get a better bowl bid. We just have to take a good look at ourselves and just dig deep and find whatever it takes.""
No matter who the Badgers place on the field Saturday, all three sides of the ball, offense, defense and special teams, need to come together and play well. Michigan State is definitely beatable, but a complete game from Wisconsin will be needed to leave Camp Randall Saturday with a win.
