The Wisconsin football team took to the field at Camp Randall Stadium Saturday for the first time since its 70-23 routing of Northwestern over Thanksgiving weekend. This time, however, there was no opponent standing on the opposite sideline. This time, Camp Randall played host to the annual spring football game.
The spring game offered Badger fans the first look at the team as it starts preparations for the coming fall season. And with some key roles to fill, the game also provided the players a chance to state their case.
Through the complex scoring system put in place for the game, including spotting the defense seven points at the start of each half and a rapid fire field goal competition, the defense defeated the offense by the score of 29 to 27.
Much of the attention was on the quarterbacks, with the biggest question this offseason coming at that position. Sophomore Jon Budmayr, freshman Joe Brennan and freshman Joel Stave were all given time under center.
As expected, Budmayr saw the first snaps in the game, but was unable to get much going, throwing incomplete for his first attempt and having his second pass picked off. He would give up a fumble and nearly throw a second interception before the first half ended.
The second half got off to a better for Budmayr, who completed his first pass with a bullet down the middle. From there, Budmayr seemed to have figured things out and was completing his passes more consistently. He would finish the day completing 10-of-23 passes for 133 yards.
""The three guys that got the majority of the reps today aren't anywhere where we need them to be in for us to be a competitive team in the fall,"" head coach Bret Bielema said.
Brennan had his own struggles out of the gate, throwing an interception in his first attempt of the afternoon. He would struggle throughout the first half to find the hands of his receivers making just one completion to match that interception.
Brennan's struggles would continue out of the locker room, as he only completed a handful of passes successfully. After being picked off once more in the second half, Brennan would complete 4 of 23 on the day.
As much as Budmayr and Brennan struggled early Saturday, Stave showed that he could hit his targets with a good deal of accuracy, completing 8 of 15 attempts. Stave showed discipline with the ball, making good decisions even if his throw was incomplete.
Stave, however, at times reminded us that he was a true freshman by taking a sac and throwing one of his passes far off target and out of bounds near the end of the first half.
Despite the subpar performance, all of the struggles with completing passes cannot be put solely on the quarterbacks, as receivers dropped the balls of let passes go through their hands.
""Part of the problem of our offense today was our defense played pretty good,"" Bielema said.
It remains to be seen who will have the starting job when the Badgers open the 2011 season at UNLV Sept. 1. It's a long summer and a long offseason, which gives these athletes ample time to improve before the fall season begins.
""This was one practice out of 15,"" Bielema said. ""I have been happy with the way both sides of the ball as well as our kicking game has come around and continued to move forward.""
