Get ready for a changed Wisconsin Badgers team (1-1 overall) this Saturday against the Utah State Aggies (2-0 overall) when they burst through the tunnel at Camp Randall Stadium.
Whether you’re talking personnel, energy, or confidence, the Badgers simply seemed different this week compared to the first couple weeks of the season.
“The kids were really juiced,” Wisconsin head coach Bret Bielema said. “Sunday there were some things said, players had their own little discussions about what needed to happen so I think that’s been addressed and hopefully you’ll see that Saturday.”
Bielema also said junior wide receiver Jared Abbrederis is still “up in the air” for Saturday.
The frustration from the 10-7 loss last week against Oregon State has assuredly carried over into this week, but not quite to the level of frustration that many would expect from a 1-1 team that was ranked 12th in the preseason.
“You can’t just go out there angry,” redshirt junior linebacker Chris Borland said. “You have to be put under a game plan, put into a technique and I think the guys are doing that this week.”
If Wisconsin does end up taking the field angry on Saturday, especially on defense, they could find themselves in a whirlwind of trouble, considering the “exotic” offense—as redshirt junior safety Dezmen Southward liked to call it—the Aggies will bring to Madison.
Utah State sophomore quarterback Chuckie Keeton has propelled Utah State with his arm and his legs to its first 2-0 start since 1997. He leads an offense that many Wisconsin defensive players described as unique.
“Lots of motioning and stuff,” redshirt sophomore safety Michael Trotter said, who will be starting in place of injured Shelton Johnson. “I think for our defense to be successful, [we] just [need to] make the right calls. That’s honestly all it is.”
Keeton has completed 77.2% of his passes this season and rushed for 86 yards last week in their 27-20 overtime upset victory over Utah. He came up clutch in overtime when, faced with a third-and-nine on the team’s first overtime possession, he scrambled and ran the ball to the one-yard line. The Aggies scored two plays later and deflected a pass in the endzone on Utah’s next possession, sealing the win.
This pocket-awareness that Keeton displayed last weekend has much to do with why Trotter compared him to Michael Vick.
“I’m going to really have to bring it,” Trotter said.
Southward and Johnson have been more than willing to lend a hand to the 209-pound Trotter, even if that means putting in a few extra hours during preparation time this week.
“[Johnson] has been really helpful and yesterday we had a great practice,” Trotter said. “(The coaches) threw new stuff out there I didn’t expect, so we’re going to meet right now, go over it and get if fixed,” Trotter said yesterday after practice.
Southward was grateful to serve up some useful advice, as he was in a situation similar to Trotter earlier in his time here at Wisconsin.
“Play the game you play,” he said. “Honestly, there’s nothing that changed from when I was a backup to when I was a starter. I just came out and played, and I played hard. I blocked out all the distractions outside of me and I did the best of my abilities.”
“That’s just what he’s going to have to do, just go out and be Michael Trotter.”
“I just have to go out there and play like I belong here,” Trotter said. He came down with mono his freshman year and pulled his hamstring a day after his twin brother suffered the same injury early in fall camp last year.
Borland thinks it simply comes down to the fundamentals when facing a very mobile team like the Aggies.
“There’s things we can do schematically, but it comes down to tackling, it comes down to guys playing sound within their own game. So we have to do both those things,” Borland said.
The arrival of linebackers coach Andy Buh doesn’t hurt anything either. Buh was the defensive coordinator and linebackers coach at Nevada, which played Utah State the past two seasons.
“It’s big,” Borland said of Buh’s knowledge this week. “He knows their offense inside and out and he knows their personnel, so it’s been a great asset for us.”
Senior Aggies’ running back Kerwynn Williams has 158 rushing yards on 32 carries so far this year and sophomore Joe Hill has 116 yards and three touchdowns on only 11 carries, so the talk should clearly not be limited to Keeton.
Perhaps the most frustrated from last week’s performance was senior running back Montee Ball.
“You watch the film of our game against Oregon State, they’re over there jumping around,” Ball said. “We were just kind of just standing there. Having no energy, no focus, none of that. Today we were jumping around screaming and bringing that energy level up, which should bring urgency [Saturday].”
