Wisconsin (1-0 Big Ten, 1-0 overall), coming off their 56-42 victory over Bowling Green last week, will welcome the Temple Owls (0-1) tomorrow. The Owls, on the contrary, are coming off a humiliating 63-16 loss at No. 15 Arizona State.
The Owls allowed 559 yards of offense to the Sun Devils, a delightful number for the Badgers. UW's offense went for 504 yards against the Falcons, including 361 rushing yards by junior running backs Brian Calhoun and Booker Stanley. Still, head coach Barry Alvarez refuses to look at this as a walk in the park.
\What we try to do is concentrate on what we've done,"" Alvarez said, passing on a chance to discredit Temple. ""The film Saturday is a great film to build off of. We did a lot of good things on offense, yet there's a tremendous amount that we can improve on and we can clean up.""
The defense, on the other hand, did not impress Alvarez. The Badgers allowed 531 yards of total offense, 458 in the air. Junior Heisman hopeful Omar Jacobs torched the UW Secondary and the Badgers' head coach was not pleased.
""I was disappointed because I felt we had some guys that abandoned their technique and abandoned some of the things that we just worked a month on,"" Alvarez said. ""Everyone has a responsibility and everyone plays off of that responsibility, so it was very disappointing to me to see two or three guys not playing their techniques and responsibilities like they'd been taught.""
The Badgers have already made changes to their defense, benching junior strong safety Johnny White in favor of junior Joe Stellmacher and freshman Allen Langford will move ahead of senior Levonne Rowan on the depth chart. Don't be surprised to see freshman linebacker DeAndre Levy, who keeps turning heads at practice and might be able to battle senior Dontez Sanders for the starting weak-side linebacker position.
The Owl offensive attack is experienced, but that might not mean much. Fifth-year senior Owl quarterback Mike McGann, who threw for one touchdown and two picks on a 48.6 completion percentage in last week's game, is trying to make the most of his return to the position. He lost the position last year to junior college transfer Walter Washington, who left school to try out his skills in the NFL.
Prior to the season, the Owls planned to have a double running back attack with seniors Tim Brown and Umar Ferguson. However, Brown is now ineligible for the season because he failed to meet academic standards, while Ferguson was limited to just 42 yards on 16 carries in last week's game.
The Badgers are favored by 34 points in tomorrow's contest, but Alvarez warns that the Owls will not back down.
""Temple, as a team, historically is a physical team,"" Alvarez said. ""Guys get after it, like to play, and our guys will have to be ready for a physical game.""
