After an off-season that featured the loss of seven defensive starters, including four drafted into the NFL, combined with an offense that has been inconsistent over the past few years, there were hundreds of questions up in the air for the upcoming campaign. Many of these questions remain unanswered after Wisconsin's (0-0, 1-0) 56-42 victory over the visiting Bowling Green Falcons (0-0, 0-1) Saturday. As to who would fill graduated running back Anthony Davis' shoes, the answer was clear on Saturday with the performance of junior running back Brian Calhoun.
The University of Colorado transfer, who sat out last year due to NCAA regulations, has been gearing up for his debut all spring, and no matter how talented the scouting reports proclaimed, nothing could have prepared Bowling Green for what he unleashed. His break-through game was the best debut by a Wisconsin running back, as Calhoun finished with an astounding 258 yards, and a UW record tying five touchdowns.
\The holes were there, I just had to hit them,"" said Calhoun of his performance, ""I've played in a lot of different stadiums and there's none better than Camp Randall.""
The Falcons, who averaged 44.3 points per game last season, returned one of the best quarterbacks in the nation in Omar Jacobs ,who threw for 41 touchdowns and only four interceptions last year. Their offense matched up against the Badger's untested defense, causing many people to be wary of the Badger's first game. The 13-0 score after one quarter was even less encouraging, as Jacobs completed his first eight passes and went 11 for 12 with 106 yards in the quarter.
The Badgers' lone full possession of the quarter amounted to 22 yards, as two penalties pushed the Badgers in the wrong direction.
Near the end of the quarter, junior quarterback John Stocco took off with the ball on a broken pass play for a large chunk of yards. On the play, Bowling Green freshman Antonio Smith collided violently with Stocco, forcing the Badger quarterback out of the game for several minutes.
Calhoun responded for the offense, carrying the ball for 40 yards over the next three plays down to the Bowling Green 21-yard line.
On the very first play of the second quarter, Stocco came back and threw a 21 yard touchdown strike to senior Johnathan Orr. Jacobs countered with a 63 yard strike to senior Steve Sanders and the shoot out began.
On the ensuing kickoff, senior Brandon Williams fielded the ball and followed his blockers to the 20 where he took off through a hole and sprinted 85 yards down to the Bowling Green eight yard line. Midway through the return, Williams passed Nick Davis for first all time in UW kickoff return yardage. When the band took the field at halftime Wisconsin had put up 35 points in the quarter and the game was tied.
""We knew they couldn't stop us, we just had to keep doing what we were doing,"" said Williams about the offense, who then answered a question about Calhoun's performance by saying, ""It was very impressive to me, but I've been seeing this since the spring so I knew what he could do.""
The story of the half remained Calhoun, who rushed for 148 yards on only 19 carries, an average of 7.8 yards-per-carry. Stocco played well too going 5-7 for 104 yards and one touchdown and one interception, playing with much more confidence than last year.
""Jacobs lives up to his billing. They create a lot of problems but I was very proud of our guys and how they competed,"" said Badger head coach Barry Alvarez.
""They did not flinch, they didn't lose their composure. I thought our guys battled."" said Alvarez who will step down as head coach at the conclusion of this season.
The defense came alive in the second half, allowing only one touchdown including yielding a mere one yard on ten plays in the entire third quarter. Running back Booker Stanley got into the act as well on the offensive side and ended up with 103 yards on the ground. The shoot out went down to the last seconds when the Badgers made a big goal line stand to make sure Jacobs didn't get the chance for a late comeback.
