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BRYAN FAUST/Herald PhotoIt’s not everyday a defense only gives up three points, an offense scores on its first four drives, and everybody leaves the game feeling somewhat disappointed and unsatisfied. But that is exactly how the University of Wisconsin football team walked away from Saturday’s 34-10 victory over Division I-AA Western Illinois. “There are so many things that we did wrong, I think,” senior middle linebacker Mark Zalewski said. “We did some things well, but our defense can be a lot better than how we played today and how we played the first game. We want to be great, we just have to correct a lot of things.””We still have a lot of work to do, offensively, defensively, special teams-wise,” sophomore tight end Travis Beckum said. While all the players were quick to point out that a victory, no matter how it is earned, is rewarding, the overall sloppy and inconsistent play of Wisconsin (2-0, 0-0 Big Ten) against a I-AA opponent (a school with no military affiliation, yet is the only institution in the country to use the nickname and imagery of the U.S. Marine Corps as Leatherneck is slang for a Marine) did put a damper on the day. “There wasn’t any number that jumped out at you, [but] I didn’t like the way they creased us up the middle a little bit,” Bielema said, who earned his first home victory as UW’s head coach. “I don’t think we tackled well. I counted on four occasions — two in the first half and two right away in the second half, where we should’ve been off the field after third down if we just make the tackles. That concerns me because that is a basic element of football that we [need] to have instilled in their minds.”Redshirt freshman running back P.J. Hill bowled his way to 102 yards and a career-high three touchdowns on 22 rushes. Hill cut through the WIU defense like a clipper ship through choppy water, leaving a trail of Leathernecks in his wake, often breaking two or three tackles on a run.”That’s my running game, I like to play real physical,” Hill said, adding he was looking to create contact as he ran. “If you beat up on the defenders, the next play they will approach you a different way.”I saw a lot of them breaking down a little early, and then I was just able to get around them.””To me, as a head coach, when I look out on the field and see a running back who is pounding his jersey number telling me to give him the ball … that is a mentality that we can win with,” Bielema said.While Hill was dominant, the rest of the Badger offense was just lukewarm. Despite Hill’s day, the team ended up averaging only 2.8 yards per carry. And the passing game wasn’t error free either, with several drops marring what was otherwise another strong game from the Badger receivers. Even senior quarterback John Stocco, who finished with 227 yards and a touchdown on 15-of-25 passing, was up and down.”He wasn’t clean either,” Bielema said. “There were some things that were down the field [that he missed], and I know we’ll sit back as coaches and do a good job of evaluating exactly what we were asking him to do.”The feelings after the game were so muddled that in a period of about 30 seconds Hill expressed thoughts that the Badgers both “improved a little” on offense and “took a little step back,” epitomizing the polarizing feel of a 24-point home-opener victory that was tougher than it should have been. “I get bothered by people who don’t even give teams like us a chance; they just assume there is going to be a 40-point win,” said Don Patterson, Leatherneck’s head coach. “Even though they don’t give much hope to our football players, I know, and these guys know, that we came in here to play hard for 60 minutes in order to get a victory.”The up-and-down nature of the game started right from the opening gun. On the opening kickoff, junior return man Jarvis Minton took the ball, made a nice cut to the outside and looked poised for a big return — until WIU’s Robert Hodges knocked the ball out of Minton’s hands from behind, resulting in a fumble recovered by the Leathernecks at the UW 36-yard line.”I saw Jarvis (Minton) had the ball on the inside shoulder, or inside hand, and the Western Illinois player couldn’t wait to get there because he knew what he was going to do and executed that,” Bielema said.But the Badger defense held strong and kept Western Illinois to only a field goal, in what turned out to be the only points the WIU offense would score all day. The much ballyhooed Wisconsin defense went on to force three turnovers and another turnover on downs, but also gave up a surprisingly high 246 yards and 3.6 yards a carry by the Leathernecks, numbers that could prove damning against upper-tier opponents.”It’s really safe to say [that we aren’t satisfied],” junior receiver Paul Hubbard said after the game. We should’ve played a lot better. I feel like we took a couple steps back from the first game.”Western Illinois continually looked on the verge of putting a scare into Wisconsin with drives deep into Badger territory, but kept turning the ball over, either throwing an interception in the end zone on a sparkling play by senior safety Joe Stellmacher, or falling short on a fourth and two trick play where tailback Alex Douglas took a toss and threw back across the field to quarterback Steve LaFalce. It appeared as if Wisconsin would pull away when the sharp UW special teams unit jumped on a muffed punt and looked to have the ball in Leatherneck territory. That is, until the officials ruled that the play would be wiped away after there was an inadvertent whistle while the ball was in the air and would be re-kicked, drawing the ire of the Badger faithful and Bielema.”The part that I was frustrated about was that nobody knew the answer,” Bielema said. “I was very emphatic with the officials during the course of the game that I know I’m a rookie coach, and everybody else in that stadium knows it now, I don’t want to be treated like a rookie coach.”The Badgers finally nailed the coffin shut when converted tight end Andy Crooks turned an innocent looking short pass from Stocco into a 24-yard score, turning upfield immediately and avoiding defenders until he crashed into the end zone. Stocco took a shot to the helmet from WIU linebacker Jason Williams on the play and stayed on the Camp Randall turf for a moment, prompting the training staff to come onto to the field. Stocco shortly walked off the field on his own power, and even though he didn’t return for the final 10 minutes of the game, he assured media members that he was fine after the game. “I knew John (Stocco) was going to get up, and that’s the great thing about him. It wasn’t anything serious,” Bielema said. “I was worried it was something in the lower body, but it wasn’t. He just got whacked pretty good and had a smile on his face 10 seconds later.”If the last three Badger offensive series are any indication, it’s a good thing that Stocco was alright following the big hit, because things turned ugly when backup quarterback Tyler Donovan and the second-string offense stepped into the game. In three offensive series the unit put up some paltry numbers: minus-28 yards offense, five penalties, two sacks, zero completions and one interception returned for a touchdown. Even the stellar special teams unit got in on the action with a kickoff return to the one-yard line and an unsightly, uncharacteristic 33-yard punt by DeBausche.”Lot of things they can clean up,” Stocco said. “We can’t have those mistakes … that is something that we all have to clean up.” read more